Legend of the Mushroom Stones
by WarioMan3K
Summary: DCC #8 of my fanfic series. Roughly two months after the fall of Project: ACT ZERO, Arctic Bomber is living a normal life at her apartment in Oakland, California. One day, she hears of a legend about the Mushroom Stones and their powers. Thinking it'd restore her crystal-wrought castle that was destroyed during World War III, she personally undertakes this new task. CROSSOVER FIC
1. Prologue

Now begins DCC #8 in my revamped fanfic series, and while it was originally a spinoff fic that focused entirely on Arctic Bomber's so-called quest to riches, there may be some changes in comparison to what I posted on DeviantART (well, for those who _did_ read my fic there), though it hardly matters now. As usual, here's the prologue!

**DISCLAIMER: Bomberman is owned by Hudson Soft despite the company being absorbed unto Konami as of March 2012; WarioWare and Mario are properties of Nintendo. Contra belongs to Konami; Final Fantasy is a property of Square-Enix; Double Dragon was formerly owned by Technos Japan but nowadays is in Million's hands.**

* * *

-Legend of the Mushroom Stones-

Prologue

ARCTIC BOMBER'S P.O.V.

Y'know...after my recent time-travel with Cheerful White and Cute Pink to restore world history's space-time continuum to its rightful condition, as well as 9-Volt's family by saving his mom (on our way back to the present, of course), I began looking up some interesting things about ancient history - mostly Egyptian. I still held my suspicions about Queen Cleopatra, but here's something I found. A story about the three Sacred Stones of Egypt told of a strange old woman, known as Hiruko, who came to the famed Double Dragons: Billy and Jimmy Lee, and told them about the stones along with the sudden disappearance of Marian, Billy's girlfriend. They began their journey to get the three stones, while coming across two guardians (Chin Seimei of China, and Yagyu Ranzou of Japan) along the way. When they finally arrived in Egypt, Hiruko revealed her true intentions, in which she wanted all the stones to gather power from Egypt to control the world. But, she made a mistake by carrying _less than all four stones_, which cost her her life by disintegrating her body into dust. Marian showed up, but was strangely possessed by Cleopatra's spirit. I don't know how exactly that happened, but the Lee brothers managed to free her.

Anyhoo, enough about the story. I've just found something similar: legend in Sarasaland, Princess Daisy's desert-themed kingdom located on the outskirts of the Mushroom Kingdom, foretells of five Mushroom Stones which held the key to unknown power within a pyramid. Apparently, nobody knows what power is sealed within, but they feared it would be dangerous if it fell into the hands of evil, so they simply scattered the stones out of the kingdom, and into the real world (our home planet Earth, if you will) in five different continents. Yeah yeah, I know, kinda corny at first glance, but maybe there's a chance for me to restore my winter-themed crystal castle that was destroyed last year during World War III! I've just gotta take the risk...

And on top of that, I can't let anyone in Diamond City find out about this; not Yuffie Kisaragi, not even my five fellow Contras - Aaron, Ami, Bill Rizer, Lance Bean, and/or Blaze Bomber - nobody but myself. Don't get me wrong: I've already learned my lesson and turned good several months ago. It's just that I don't want them or any of our WarioWare friends to be driven by greed like I once was.

END P.O.V.


	2. One odd morning

The story begins with our antihero taking it easy from her previous endeavors, most of which had been successful from the day she reformed herself...

**DISCLAIMER: Bomberman is owned by Hudson Soft despite the company being absorbed unto Konami as of March 2012; WarioWare and Mario are properties of Nintendo. Contra belongs to Konami; Final Fantasy is a property of Square-Enix; Double Dragon was formerly owned by Technos Japan but nowadays is in Million's hands. Wreck-It Ralph, though referenced near the end of this chapter, belongs to Disney.**

* * *

Chapter 1: One odd morning

[Opening BGM: Main Menu (Wario: Master of Disguise)]

April 9, 20XX...

A whole month had passed since Arctic Bomber helped Cheerful White and Cute Pink restore world history back to its former glory, not to mention return their friends along with 9-Volt, Phoebe, and his mom back to normal in the process. Even Blaze Bomber and the Four Contras were alive and well as if the disruption in the space-time continuum never erased any one of us from existence. Feeling relieved for real that she made up for her bullying antics, she no longer had anything to regret. Today - and out of sheer boredom - she's watching TV in her apartment, looking for ways to get rich and restore her winter-themed castle that was destroyed during World War III, unaware that she's about to be struck by inspiration from TV. On second thought, make that struck by UN-inspiration. Poor Bomber-girl...she still ain't rich, even when she's got everything a princess could ever have at the moment (treasures, and the Glacier Bowling Ball).

Just then, the news report ended, and a TV show came on in its place. "A reality show?" said Arctic Bomber, not caring what its title read. "Pshhh. Sorry, not my type. Next!" She changed the channel to something else, which showed a baseball game going on in the Mushroom Kingdom between the Mario Fireballs and the Wario Muscles.

"So that's what's Wario has been up to recently, huh? I guess it won't be boring to watch, as long as a bit of action's involved." Just then, a telepathic voice interrupted her moment by calling out, _The secret to ultimate power lies within Sarasaland..._

"Eh? Who's there?"

An old lady appeared from out of nowhere, her appearance bearing that of an elderly Toad. "I am Misu, a travelling fortune teller from the Mushroom Kingdom. I came to Diamond City to look for someone worthy of seeking out the five Mushroom Stones, but luckily I found you. I've heard many stories about you."

"How do you know about this city?" asked Arctic Bomber.

"Where I come from, people talk. You could say I'm from Toad Town."

"Hmm...I see. So, tell me about these Mushroom Stones, and why I should help you. You're not aiming for power like Hiruko once did at the cost of her own life, are you? Billy and Jimmy Lee almost died trying to save Marian that time."

"No no no, I'm not here to gain power. I am far much different from this Hiruko person you're talking about. Now, legend has it that the five Stones: Amethyst, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, and Diamond, held the key to the ultimate power sealed deep within a pyramid in Sarasaland. Many denizens feared it would fall into the wrong hands, so they scattered the Mushroom Stones out of the Mushroom World, and into the real world - your home planet, Earth, I presume."

"I see...hey, wait a minute. Are you the one who called out to me about where this ultimate power is located?"

Misu nodded. "Yes, but only because I got word of it as I can feel its telepathic voice. We must hurry and get all the Mushroom Stones, for only by acquiring the ultimate power can we guarantee unlimited protection on Princess Peach's castle from Bowser and his minions. Mario and Luigi do need a vacation, y'know."

"Can it also restore a building, like say, a castle? I used to have one...until it was destroyed by an enemy attack."

"In a sense, yes. Anyway, we have a long journey ahead of us. I have been told that the Amethyst Stone is hidden within Chichen Itza, an ancient city built in Mexico by the Maya civilization."

[End BGM]

* * *

[Interlude BGM: Wishstone Scene (Wario: Master of Disguise)]

Little did Arctic Bomber know that she wasn't the only one searching for the five Mushroom Stones. Elsewhere, around the planet, some of the best treasure hunters heard the telepathic message, though not accompanied by a fortune teller. First up, was King Billy Bling and the Rich Bombers at his Money Dynasty. Billy was a rich African American whose source of power came from money. He used to have an intention to make the dynasty one of the richest in lieu of other billionaires in the United States, let alone the famed Bill Gates, but since the day Arctic Bomber encountered and defeated him over nine months ago at his castle during her quest to riches - which resulted in having her own crystal castle magically built on the outskirts of Hollywood, CA, before it was destroyed during World War III - he had learned his lesson and thus admitted that all he wanted was to be rich like the other billionaires, not dominate the world. Apparently, being an all-time dictator of Earth is extremely boring and unjust to his lifestyle.

King Billy usually wasn't alone in his so-called dynasty, for he had three of his personal Bomberman-esque bodyguards to aid him in any way possible, each built by a group of scientists he paid. The first in line was a goldenrod-armored "Money Lover" named Bling Bomber, whose motives are to attack only those who would dare try and cheat his master out of his riches with an unlimited supply of "Money Bombs" which looked like balled-up counterfeit bills. The other was a heavyset, red-armored "Master of Heavy-Artillery" known as Heavy Bomber, whom King Billy had based off a certain minigun-toting Russian character from one of the most popular first-person shooter games in the PC gaming community. He would often have a sudden urge to blow things up and will not let go until he gets it done right, preferring to let his weapons do the talking for him. Last, but not least, was a female bombshell-lookalike in the form of a Bomber-woman, clad in an American Rose-colored dress and helmet. Known only as Fashion Bomber, the "Celebrity Bombshell" of the Rich Bombers, she had an affinity for things that a real-life Las Vegas bombshell loved: fashion, jewels, makeup, pink, and even muscular guys - just the way Billy Bling pictured when he had her built. Unsurprisingly, she hated getting dirty and smoke.

"Ahhh," said King Billy, his voice sounding almost like Disco Kid from _Punch-Out!_ on the Wii, "secret to ultimate power, huh? I think I read a story about Sarasaland. These Mushroom Stones were scattered across our home planet in case an evil being would come and steal them. Well, not when I'm around! Fashion! Heavy! Bling! Come with me - we have our dynasty to expand all across good ol' Hollywood!"

Bling Bomber added, "Heh. At least you're not power-crazy like some greedy treasure hunters."

"Are you kidding me? Being a dictator of Earth with an army of mindless followers just ain't in my character; it's boring and dull as heck!"

"_Da_," Heavy Bomber spoke with a Russian accent. "I knew you'd say that. Not big surprise."

"At least Arctic Bomber turned over a new leaf and became a good guy, or so I've read in the news over the months. She was freakin' scary when we first met in combat!"

Fashion Bomber shrugged. "Ugh, don't remind me. I'm just glad to hear she chilled way down on her greedy attitude after she helped save the world."

* * *

Meanwhile at an abandoned wrestling stadium in Metro City, where Sodom used to be in charge of before his eventual loss to Guy, Poison and Hugo Andore also heard the telepathic message, though it's clearly obvious they've never visited the Mushroom Kingdom before. They were too busy managing Hugo's wrestling career ever since they got out of jail, apparently no longer affiliated with the Mad Gear gang after countless defeats (or so it goes).

"Mushroom Stones?" wondered Andore.

"An article once said that they've been placed all over the world..." said Poison. "Well, just for us to pilfer! With this ultimate power, we'll form an invincible H.W.A. - the Huge Wrestling Army! Effective immediately, those who dare challenge you will belong to us!"

"I like the sound of that! Let's go!"

* * *

And last, but not least, the message got out to an artificial island, located off the coast of Bangkok, Thailand. This island was once built and intended for use as Purple Basilisk's base of operations during the aftermath of the Alien Wars, but due to Bill Rizer and Lance Bean's intervention at his other base in Vietnam, the island became decommissioned and shut down. Rumor had it that its automated defense system was powered by the Diamond Stone nowadays.

The only occupant on this island was none other than a humanoid alien soldier, who called himself Yellow Cobra. Although not much is known about him, he worked for Red Falcon during World War III. He led his men during the assault which Arctic Bomber herself unleashed against them in her blind rage (as a reaction to the US soldiers getting killed while assisting the Four Contras) on Galuga Island. Only Yellow Cobra survived, but was left for dead. A few of his surviving comrades evacuated him to the decommissioned island base off the coast of Thailand. Now reborn as a cyborg, he takes it upon himself to exact vengeance upon Arctic Bomber. As soon as he heard about the ultimate power, he would eventually come out of hiding to hunt down the five Mushroom Stones, while killing anyone who got in his way. His name is based on the actual highly-venomous cobra inhabiting a wide variety of biomes across southern Africa (including aria savanna, fynbos, bushveld, desert and semi-desert regions).

"Soon, I'll have this ultimate power...and Arctic Bomber's head in the end! Lords Red Falcon, Sniper Bomber, and Axe Bomber may be dead, but I shall live to this day!"

* * *

In spite of Yellow Cobra's return from the dead, he wasn't aware that Purple Basilisk and the Chaotic Bombers were still alive even when they were banished to the underworld and later defeated in their attempt to conquer the arcade realm within Blaze Bomber's Diamond Arcade World in Diamond City. It didn't take much for the Basilisk Dynasty to escape from prison due to Warlock Bomber having "bribed" the guards with his Black Magic, let alone revive Siren Bomber. Though their underworld hideout was deep beneath the surface, they could still pick up the telepathic message about the secret to ultimate power.

"Warlock Bomber," Purple Basilisk announced, "get the other Chaotic Bombers over here at once! I've finally discovered the answer to all our problems at hand."

"Let me guess: another attempt to force the six Contras and their friends into submission, so we can have an easier time rebuilding the Basilisk Dynasty?"

"Oh, but not _just_ any attempt, my loyal second-in-command. There's this ultimate power hidden somewhere in a desert region called Sarasaland. We could become rich and invincible; thus, we don't have to take over the United States anymore just to show the world our godly power...We can buy its capital to run the country without relying on Red Falcon, Sniper Bomber, and Axe Bomber to hold our hands! Besides, a whole bunch of wannabe treasure hunters will be after the same artifact in the desert pyramid, therefore we must get to it first! By the way, I've just resurrected Siren back to life with a one-time-only warning that she's _not_ to commit mutiny upon me again."

"Eh, what she sees in that blue-clothed short-stack, I'll never understand. But nevertheless, I wouldn't be surprised if we see Arctic Bomber again, given her taste in shiny treasures and all that crap."

Boxer Bomber pounded his metallic boxing glove-like fists against each other. "Yeah! We owe her and Blaze Bomber a complimentary face-beating for what they did to us when we tried conquering his arcade center from inside its pathetic excuse for a virtual world! Nobody defeats this reigning champ of the Underworld Boxing Association - nobody!"

[End BGM]

* * *

From around the world, the hunt for the Mushroom Stones and the secret to ultimate power begins. Arctic Bomber, intent to embark on her quest without letting anyone of her friends find out, drove off to Diamond City on her moped. Upon her arrival a few hours later, she drove by some of its well-known locations, firstly being Diamond Dojo where she noticed 9-Volt in the middle of a meditation lesson with Yuffie Kisaragi - apparently to help him relax so that next time there's a predicament, he and Phoebe wouldn't be scared as long as his guardian angel's around. Assuming the teen ninja didn't hear the telepathic message at all, Arctic felt relieved and drove on to a few other locations before stopping by Blaze Bomber's Diamond Arcade World to find Dribble and Spitz, knowing they sometimes come here whenever they're off their taxi duty.

"Blaze, have you seen Dribble and Spitz?" she asked.

"Not since they finished playing _Daytona USA _and _Cruis'n World_ over half an hour ago and left," answered Blaze Bomber. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing, really. I just wanted to know, that's all. Thanks."

"You're welcome. I think they left for Crygor Labs to have their taxi cab checked before heading back to Diamond Taxi."

Without revealing her real reason for wanting to see them, Arctic Bomber simply nodded gratefully and left for Crygor Labs with Misu at her side. It wasn't that she didn't feel confident going solo; she actually wanted a couple others to keep her company during the trip.

TO BE CONTINUED...

* * *

The hunt begins, with every would-be treasure hunters having their own goals for wanting the Mushroom Stones. It's up to our antihero to make sure she gets them first.


	3. The ancient Chichen Itza

Our antihero has set her sights on an ancient Mayan civilization located in Mexico; thus her quest had begun. By the way, I've officially decided to use my WarioWare/Wreck-It Ralph crossover fic - WarioWare: Arcade Mania! - as a tie-in to my Diamond City Chronicles series, though I'm sure I mentioned it in its description, along with the fact that it's also a spinoff fic. Either way, feel free to check out said crossover fic if you want; it's your call.

**DISCLAIMER: Bomberman is owned by Hudson Soft despite the company being absorbed unto Konami as of March 2012; WarioWare and Mario are properties of Nintendo. Contra belongs to Konami; Final Fantasy is a property of Square-Enix; Final Fight is a property of Capcom. Ghostbusters, while briefly referenced in this chapter, is owned by Columbia Pictures.**

* * *

Chapter 2: The ancient Chichen Itza

[Overworld BGM: Ahead on Our Way (Final Fantasy VII)]

Meanwhile back at Diamond Dojo, 9-Volt had just finished his meditation lesson with Yuffie in time for his mother 5-Volt to pick him up, accompanied by Phoebe; it turned out they actually took him here for the lesson after an early dismissal at Diamond Elementary. Suddenly, Yuffie also felt the same telepathic message enter her mind, though she didn't want her friends to know about it...at least not yet. For now, she asked if they want to go to Pearl Square and maybe Wario Park's bowling alley to take her mind off things. They have indeed agreed on the plan, but as soon as they got to Pearl Square for a weekend picnic, that's when Yuffie heard the telepathic message again. She couldn't overlook it any longer, believing that the "secret to ultimate power" just might be the key to Wutai's restoration from the day it was destroyed during the Alien Wars.

"Guys," she began, "as much as I enjoy hanging out with you as friends, I kinda miss Wutai almost everyday. No...I'm not saying I don't like Diamond City. It's just that..."

"What is it, Yuffie?" asked 5-Volt. "Whatever problem you're having, we'll help you in any way we can. Time and again you've shown your kindness, bravery, and strength in some of the terrifying situations we've been through, like when we helped the Contras stop the evil forces of Red Falcon."

"Or even the battle against General Sheperd's personal army of corrupt soldiers and escaped convicts alike."

"Don't remind me," 9-Volt sighed. "I still can't believe he ordered our hometown to be blown up just to wipe us out..."

"Not while I'm around to protect you guys," reminded Yuffie. "Seriously, that one thug was asking for a kick in who-knows-what for threatening you and Phoebe, and the others too."

"Good riddance to bad rubbish, as we might put it," said Phoebe. "So...what did you have in mind?"

"Oh, that? Well...before I tell you, I want you to promise me not to tell anyone else, especially not Aaron, Ami, Bill, nor Lance of the Contras. That also includes 9-Volt's adoptive big sister Mona, so let's keep what I'm about say between the four of us, okay?"

"Alright," answered 9-Volt, "if you say so..."

"I'm serious. Remember that while I come off as positive, cheery, and a bit obnoxious, I actually care about you as friends, like we're part of a big family. Anyway, there's this secret to ultimate power hidden somewhere in a distant realm called Sarasaland, which I believe will restore my old village back to its former glory. The reason I'm asking you to keep it a secret is because I don't want you to get hurt - especially you, 9-Volt. I promise I'll do something great for you, such as magically convert your enchanted crystal ball into an actual Materia to fit in your helmet so you can have an easy time calling me for help if there's trouble. I remember it was almost destroyed a while back when we had to get rid of Shepherd's goons..."

"Are you sure this will work?"

"Of course I'm sure, silly! That's why I'm your guardian angel." Yuffie tickled 9-Volt's sides briefly and hugged him. "Besides, I don't plan on letting this power fall into the wrong hands, especially that loon Purple Basilisk - if I ever run into him again, that is. Call you a coward, will he...hmph! He had it coming when we banished him to the underworld."

"Not to mention the one time he tried taking over Game Central Station from inside Blaze Bomber's Diamond Arcade World," added Phoebe. "But still, if you plan on starting your journey, I think it might help if you ask Blaze Bomber to come with you."

Yuffie nodded with a smile. "I'll think about it, Phoebe, but thanks for the reminder. If I can't secure it to restore Wutai in the end...well, at least I'll always have a home in Diamond City."

"That's good. Anyway, shall we go to Wario Park for old time's sake? We're gonna meet up with Mona to make our trip worthwhile."

"You betcha, and as the old saying goes: LET'S BOWL!" The teen ninja flashed a friendly wink at her group.

Henceforth, they finished up their picnic and headed out to Wario Park to meet up with Mona for a friendly bowling session at the park's bowling alley, not caring who'd get the highest amongst the rest since they're here to relax and have fun. Afterwards, they went over to Wario Park's arcade center where it had ten of its own arcade games albeit less than what Diamond Arcade World provided out there in the city. Though they already know what games were available, they didn't mind taking a look before Yuffie would leave on her journey:

Donkey Kong 3 - Nintendo; 1983  
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time - Konami; 1991  
Sunset Riders - Konami; 1991  
The House of the Dead 2 - Sega; 1998  
NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC - Midway; 1999  
Marvel VS Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes - Capcom; 2000  
Capcom VS SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 - Capcom; 2001  
Time Crisis 3 - Namco; 2003  
Ghost Squad - Sega; 2004  
Mario Kart Arcade GP - Nintendo and Namco; 2005

While 5-Volt didn't mind trying out _Donkey Kong 3_ as she watched the group, 9-Volt and Phoebe went straight to _Mario Kart Arcade GP_ as their first choice, followed by _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time_, the latter currently set to give 3 lives per credit. Therefore, all they needed were 10 tokens each to start out with 30 lives separately. As for Mona and Yuffie, they gave each other a run for their money in both _Marvel VS Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes_ and _Capcom VS SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001_. Regardless of how many times either one won or lost, the teens saved their remaining tokens for joining in with 9-Volt and Phoebe to help finish the TMNT game for the excitement. In the end, Yuffie felt more than ready to take on the task of finding the five Mushroom Stones, but not before pinky-finger promising 9-Volt and his mom, Phoebe, and Mona that she would return home safely...

[End BGM]

* * *

[Stage BGM: Stonecarving City (Wario Land: Shake It!)]

_Mission 1: The ancient Mayas_  
_Legends foretell of an ancient civilization that existed centuries ago at Chichen Itza, nowadays a tourist attraction. In spite of its modern security, countless treasure hunters had attempted to pilfer its valuables at night after closing time, including the Amethyst Stone rumored to have fell into the Mayan pyramid itself long ago._  
_Not one living soul had ever been successful due to the pyramid's booby-traps built to deter greedy thieves, until now..._  
_April 9, 20XX_  
_12:35 PM_

Elsewhere, Arctic Bomber went to Crygor Labs in an attempt to get to her first destination as quickly as possible. There, she requested permission from Penny Crygor and Blaze Bomber to borrow the CrygorCopter, only to remember Dr. Crygor's warnings about it being strictly off-limits unless there's an emergency situation. Not wanting to give away her mission to collect all five Mushroom Stones, she turned to Diamond Taxi. Luckily, Dribble and Spitz were currently off-duty from their jobs, though neither one became aware of the fact that Yuffie stopped by Crygor Labs to ask Blaze Bomber to accompany her aboard the Contra Cruiser (whilst keeping her explanation as brief as possible for the time being).

"Hey, Arctic!" Dribble spoke with his Bronx accent. "Whatcha up to?"

"Nothing much, but I'm just wondering if you guys are free this week."

"Actually," Spitz said with a Bronx accent, "we do have work tomorrow as taxi drivers, but we're off today. Why?"

"And who's this old Toad?" asked Dribble. "She doesn't look like any elderly citizen we've seen before in the Mushroom Kingdom..."

Arctic Bomber replied, "Oh, she's Misu. She's with me. I'm going on a vacation, and I'm giving you two permission to take us there."

"That's cool. Where are you going?"

"Chichen Itza, in Mexico."

Dribble gruffed softly in agreement. "Sounds interesting. But you know we don't take people anywhere around the world for free. However, if you let us in on your reason for wanting us to take you around, we just might make an exception..."

"Okay, here's the thing - just don't tell anyone. Not even Aaron, Ami, Bill, and/or Lance of the Four Contras. Misu told me something about those five Mushroom Stones being scattered all over the Earth, and out of Sarasaland."

"I've read that story before! Legend has it that they're the keys to unlocking the ultimate power-"

Arctic interrupted Dribble by waving her hands. "I know, I know. But I just want to get them as quickly as possible, because I have a gut-feeling that I'm not the only one after the same goal."

Spitz nodded. "Sounds like an interesting trip! Well, maybe just this once..."

Having earned themselves a deal, Arctic Bomber rode in the backseat with Misu, while Dribble and Spitz transformed their taxi cab into its jet mode and sped off for the ancient city of Chichen Itza, unaware that Poison and Hugo are headed there too, by riding on Rolento's helicopter. Rolento, along with Sodom, were wondering about their old comrades' reason for wanting the Mushroom Stones.

"Forming the Huge Wrestling Army?" said Rolento. "Bah! That's nothing compared to what I have in mind."

Poison huffed. "And what, may I ask, do you have in mind?"

"Something even better! We could rebuild Mad Gear by using this ultimate power to grant immortality to all of our members! Obviously, we're not getting any younger as the years go by."

"But we tried world domination for a while," reminded Andore. "We get crushed time and time again by Haggar and his buddies."

"Not anymore! You see, once we have immortality, we won't have to worry about aging a bit. They won't notice a thing until it's too late. That stubborn mayor will be too old to bust our heads anymore!"

"On the other hand, Cody's in jail, so there's nothing to worry about!" boasted Sodom, albeit unaware of the fact that Guy managed to talk Cody out of picking street fights with anyone last summer. Of course, nobody cared about his fate as long as he, Guy, and Haggar weren't coming for them.

Andore thought momentarily. "Hmmm...you do have a point. When I continue to age normally, I will eventually have to retire from professional wrestling. If immortality is what will keep me and Poison going..."

"I don't mean to question your intellect, Rolento," interrupted Sodom, "but how do you know this ultimate power will grant us immortality? Nothing has been said about its capabilities!"

Rolento smirked. "That, my Japan-loving friend, is what the media wants us to think. We'll just have to go in, swipe those stones, and make our way into this Sarasaland. But be on your guard because it's obvious we're not the only ones..."

"Don't remind me," said Poison.

* * *

Later, it was 5:30 PM at the ancient city itself in Mexico (whereas it was 3:30 PM in Diamond City, California). Arctic Bomber landed first, accompanied by Dribble, Spitz, and Misu. This ancient city used to be occupied by the ancient Maya civilization centuries ago, but today, it became a tourist spot. Lately, however, there had been reports of Mayan spirits coming out at night to scare people away. Since then, Chichen Itza was temporarily off-limits until further notice.

"Gee...I dunno, Arctic," whimpered Dribble. "Those Mayan ghosts could be anywhere!"

"Aw, c'mon, guys!" shouted Arctic. "It's possible that the Amethyst Stone is the source of these sudden appearances, but there's nothing to be afraid of! If anything sneaks up on us, I just blow 'em away with my Bowling Bombs or perhaps freeze them! Simple as that."

"Shouldn't we call some of the guys who do best at investigating paranormal activities?" suggested Spitz.

"Pshhh, I doubt it. They haven't been around in years ever since those two movies they starred in, way back in the late 80s."

Then Misu said, "We can use the opportunity to get the Amethyst Stone, but beware the traps that may have been set to deter all treasure hunters..."

_Get out...the power of the stone beckons thee!_ The eerie words, seemingly from out of nowhere at first, got Dribble and Spitz scared enough with their teeth shivering in fear.

"D'ooooh..." Dribble worried again. "Where are the Ghostbusters when you REALLY need them...?"

Arctic snapped back, "Hey, calm down! You've got me by your side! I won't let those ghosts near us."

While the group trekked on to the Mayan pyramid, the four Mad Gear members peeked out from behind a pillar with Sodom whimpering, "D-d-d-did you hear that? There's g-g-g-ghosts everywhere!"

Rolento growled. "Oh, quit your sniveling and follow me!"

"But those people in front of us said the pyramid's filled with booby-traps!" complained Andore.

"Would you rather spend the rest of your lives back in jail?!"

Poison gasped, "No no no no no! I hate prison cells!"

"Then stop being such yellow-bellied cowards! How do you think we're gonna assemble the key to eternal life with that kind of attitude?"

_Get out...the power of the stone beckons thee! If you do not leave now, you will face assimilation!_ Now Sodom was convinced that the Amethyst Stone had gone crazy. He wanted out of here now while he still could, but Rolento dragged him off by pinching his ear.

"Get over yourself! Seriously, this isn't the Sodom I know!"

"OW! Ow, ow, ow...you're hurting me..."

[End BGM]

Elsewhere, King Billy and the Rich Bombers also arrived in Chichen Itza. Upon hearing the eerie voices, he became spooked as hell. "Aw, man! If there's one thing I hate, it's ghosts! I knew I should've tried to consult with the Ghostbusters first!"

"But they retired their ghost-hunting business years ago, and started their new lives since," said Heavy Bomber.

"Gee...you're right. Remind me to brush up on my knowledge."

"Maybe Arctic Bomber's getting that stone first," theorized Fashion Bomber. "She's likely not afraid of spooky ghosts."

Bling Bomber added, "Yeah, let's just go and find the other stones! I just heard a report about Moai statues coming to life in Easter Island before we left, apparently worshipping this Emerald Stone day in and day out."

"Heh. Good thinking..." said King Billy.

* * *

Back inside Chichen Itza's pyramid itself, Arctic Bomber, Dribble, and Spitz got out some flashlights to see where they're going. Misu, on the other hand, grabbed a lit torch to help out. Just then, the eerie voices called out again, _This is your last warning! Leave Chichen Itza now, or face assimilation!_ With that, a huge boulder came rushing in from behind!

[Alert BGM: Boss Battle (Batman Returns (SNES))]

"A boulder trap?" wondered Dribble. "Haven't we seen this in lots of movies before?"

Spitz became scared. "I agree, but...RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

"Not if I blow it apart first!" The Mistress of the Cold got out some of her Bowling Bombs, and rolled them at the boulder. Unsurprisingly, the explosions didn't dent it one bit. "Dammit! Where's the freakin' Drill Shot when you need one?"

With no other options, the group ran as fast as they could. Luckily, they evaded the boulder in time whereas it fell into a pit below. Then the walls started spraying knockout gas, forcing Dribble, Spitz, and Misu to cover their mouths. Arctic, however, wasn't so easily affected since she had her helmet on. Finally, the group reached the center of the Mayan pyramid, where the Amethyst Stone was located.

"The Amethyst Stone!" Misu shouted. "Grab it! Grab it quickly!"

Dribble and Spitz, however, advised against getting the stone, for they recalled the one part in a movie where touching such a forbidden artifact set off the most devastating trap of all. Arctic Bomber hand-gestured them to pipe down, while she picked up the Amethyst Stone. Suddenly, the pyramid began to shake violently as a spiritual Mayan beast formed into existence. It was a half-man, half-beast creature, with burning red eyes, and was specific to the Yucatan Peninsula. The beast called himself the Huay Chivo, an evil sorcerer who could transform himself into a supernatural creature, usually a goat, dog, or deer, in order to prey upon livestock.

_You dare defy me by stealing MY precious stone?! Its power gave my life back ever since it arrived in Mexico, and I use it to control the spirits of Chichen Itza! You shall never again see the light of day!_

The Huay Chivo transformed himself into a hellhound, bent on killing Arctic Bomber and her allies to protect his so-called ultimate treasure. He breathed fire, which Arctic countered with her snowstorm. Then the man-beast changed into a goat to charge forth, using his horns as a make-shift battering ram. Just then, Dribble and Spitz remembered something: evil spirits hate bright light. Thus, the group ran away some more as fast as they could, avoiding the stone bricks that the man-beast telepathically hurled at them. It wasn't long before they escaped with their lives, and the light from the sun forced the Huay Chivo back into his original form.

[End BGM]

_My ultimate treasure...my source of revival...NOOOOO!_ The evil spirit faded out of existence, along with the eerie voices. Chichen Itza was back to normal once more, though it may be a while before it's re-open for tourism.

Suddenly, Arctic and her friends were sucker-punched by none other than Hugo Andore himself! He grabbed the Amethyst Stone, and gave it to Rolento.

"One down, four to go! Thanks for breaking your backs to get the Amethyst Stone for us, whoever you are!" With that said, Rolento led the three Mad Gear members back to their helicopter and ran off, prompting Arctic's group to give chase in the taxi cab, all whilst unaware that Blaze Bomber and Yuffie were secretly following behind in the Contra Cruiser.

TO BE CONTINUED...

* * *

Their trip may have been a bust, but the fight for the five Mushroom Stones has only gotten started.


	4. Land of the Moai statue heads

The scuffle for the five Mushroom Stones continues...

**DISCLAIMER: Bomberman is owned by Hudson Soft despite the company being absorbed unto Konami as of March 2012; WarioWare and Mario are properties of Nintendo. Contra and Gradius belong to Konami; Final Fantasy is a property of Square-Enix; Final Fight is a property of Capcom.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Land of the Moai statue heads

[Stage BGM: The Ruin (Gradius ReBirth)]

_Mission 2: Monolithic territory_  
_One of the five Mushroom Stones is rumored to be located on Easter Island, not to mention worshipped by none other than the Moai statue heads...or, so the saying goes._  
_Of course, everyone wants this stone along with the other four, so Arctic Bomber must press on if she is to prevent the secret to ultimate power from falling into the wrong hands._  
_April 9, 20XX_  
_7:25 PM_

Far across the Pacific Ocean, lies Easter Island - where the Moai statue heads are seen - with its time zone about an hour ahead of Mexico City, Mexico. Rolento and his posse got here first, giving Sodom a reason to bust out some dance moves. "WOOOO! We did it, we did it! YATTA! I don't remember if we actually met Arctic last summer when we got acquainted with Trigger Bomber, but who cares? She got served big time by us!"

Rolento groaned in annoyance. "Don't celebrate yet! We only got the first Mushroom Stone!"

"But didn't you see the look on that stupid girl's face when we sucker-punched her? This was just too funny to overlook, I swear!"

"We have to keep moving! She's probably already picked up our trail by now!"

Poison added, "Word on the street is this island's where all those monolithic statues are carved in flat planes, all over Polynesia."

"And that's where this Emerald Stone is located," said Rolento. "Speaking of stones, I think I recall a bit about Trigger Bomber and his posse...but who am I to care? Their so-called master, Purple Basilisk, doesn't know jack about this ultimate power's capabilities, and that's why we're getting to it first."

* * *

Not surprisingly, Arctic Bomber and her allies regained consciousness and flew after the Mad Gear members, intent on taking back what she believed was unfairly stolen from her. Following behind was King Billy, along with his three Rich Bombers. Though he was relieved that he didn't have to put up with eerie, ghostly voices anymore, it wasn't long until he heard of the Moai statue heads' existence.

"I seriously hope they don't come to life when we see them," said King Billy, "because if that happens, I am leaving for someplace else! I don't care if the secret to ultimate power doesn't guarantee any riches for our castle in Hollywood!"

Heavy Bomber shook his head no. "_Nyet_. I doubt those statues will scare us, at least not with me around!"

"If we ever get out of this, remind me to look up the other Mushroom Stones' locations that don't involve supernatural mumbo-jumbo coming at us."

Fashion Bomber added, "I hear France is wonderful this time of year, not to mention the Louvre displaying something called the Sapphire Stone in Paris. I take it this is another Mushroom Stone we're seeking out?"

"If it's very valuable, then it's obviously well-guarded," said Bling Bomber. Before he and the other Rich Bombers could get far, some Moai statue heads came towards them and their master.

The statue heads warned simultaneously, "Touch not the Emerald Stone we worship, or feel the might of the Moai!"

King Billy shrieked at the sight of the Moai heads' surprise entrance. "Okay, that does it! We are leaving!"

Suddenly, Arctic jumped in and froze the statues with her blizzard. "Didn't expect to see you guys here, but then again, I'm not surprised that I am not the only one who's getting the Mushroom Stones."

Bling Bomber nodded in agreement. "I knew you'd say that. Anyhoo, guess that's our cue to leave."

Arctic Bomber grew suspicious of her rivals' intentions. "Wait...you're not gonna try and challenge me to see who gets the Emerald Stone first?"

King Billy explained his reason, "Just between us, but honestly, I can't stand supernatural places. Video games containing stuff like this I don't mind, but in reality...no no no. You're more experienced, you go get that stone!"

"Spitz and I are there for Arctic all the way," said Dribble. "We'll get those Mad Gear bozos for sucker-punching us; that's a promise!"

Shortly after parting ways, King Billy and his group took off for France, leaving Arctic and her friends to fend for themselves. According to the witnesses, the Moai statue heads apparently come to life every night to worship the Emerald Stone, and to deter all intruders who would dare attempt to pilfer it. "Beware the ring-like laser shots coming from their mouths!" warned Misu.

"I know, I've seen them in the _Gradius_ games before!" shouted Arctic Bomber.

"Eh?"

"No time to explain!" warned Dribble. "We can't let anymore of these maniacs like the Mad Gear beat us now!"

[End BGM]  
[Fight BGM: The Old Stone Age (Gradius II (NES))]

A voice suddenly bellowed out: _You can't go any further!_ Coming out from underground was a giant-sized Moai statue, about 10 feet tall. Unlike all the others, this one had an actual body with arms and feet. _I am King Moai, guardian of the Emerald Stone! Those who desire its power must first defeat me!_ The self-proclaimed king threw a few hard punches, which Arctic Bomber easily dodged. He followed up with laser eye beams, and spitting blue ring-like shots from his mouth in a spread fashion. Dribble and Spitz barely avoided getting vaporized, and took Misu to safety.

_Before this gem granted me the power of a king, I was but just another Moai statue head. Now, I am the grand poo-bah._

"I've faced worse!" scoffed Arctic Bomber.

The Moai king opened his mouth for another barrage of blue ring shots, but Arctic was ready for it. She formed up a large icicle and hurled it forward like a javelin, hitting the king so hard it jammed into his mouth. While he tried to pull it out, the Bomber-girl blew his stone feet off with her well-timed Bowling Bombs. But before she could celebrate, the Moai king used the Emerald Stone's power to regenerate his feet. As it turned out, he was wearing the stone atop his head for a crown. That's when Arctic jumped on his arms after he threw a couple more missed punches, and ran up all the way to his head to pull the Emerald Stone off.

_Hey! Get off me! My people have worshiped this gem ever since it arrived in our land!_

The Moai king tried his best to shake Arctic off his head, while he eventually succeeded in pulling the large icicle out of his mouth. The Bomber-girl held on tight to avoid falling off, still intent on grabbing the Emerald Stone. The animate statue then swung the icicle downwards to smash the pint-sized intruder, but she successfully managed to pry the Mushroom stone off and bail out, leaving him to unintentionally smash himself into a pile of gravel.

[End BGM]

With the Emerald Stone no longer in possession of the Moai, the statue heads became inanimate once again. Arctic wiped the sweat off from her hair, relieved that she acquired the stone itself. As for Rolento and his posse, they were too busy fighting the Moai statue heads to even notice the stone king falling before the ice princess. That's when they made their way towards her, only to be knocked over by a tremendous force! It was an alien soldier in a personal-sized aerial battle suit, armed with missiles and machine gun arms. He stole the Amethyst Stone from the defeated thugs, before turning his attention towards the ex-Hate Bomber.

"I've been waiting for this moment for a long time, Arctic Bomber!"

Arctic Bomber was confused. "Erm...do I know you?"

"What's wrong? Don't you remember me? Well, I'll just remind you before I obliterate you: Over 7 months ago, you killed my men in your blind rage during an assault on Galuga Island, leaving me for dead! I had to be taken to a decommissioned island base off the coast of Thailand, to be remade into what you see this day. Now, get ready to feel the force of my revenge! I'll be taking what's mine!"

Just then, Rolento got up to throw a few grenades at Yellow Cobra. "That purple gem belongs to us Mad Gears!"

Yellow Cobra growled. "Insolent wretch! I don't think you know who you're dealing with."

With the alien soldier distracted by Rolento's group, Arctic used the time to get out of Easter Island with Dribble, Spitz, and Misu. Knowing an attempt to get the Amethyst Stone back at this point might prove disastrous, they fled to another location, intent on reaching France before King Billy would succeed in pilfering the Sapphire Stone.

* * *

[Briefing BGM: Stage Select (Bomberman 64: The Second Attack!)]

Not far from Easter Island, Blaze Bomber and Yuffie had just witnessed Yellow Cobra fleeing from the scene of the crime. In fact, the honorary Contra had a gut-feeling he read something about that rogue alien sometime before; thus he brought up what he knew on the Contra Cruiser's computer.

"Back when we revisited Galuga Island alongside Aaron and Ami to unveil the truth about Project: ACT ZERO," he began, "I came upon a log entry before Colonel Bassad crashed my portable scanner. The only difference was it originated from some remnants of the Red Falcon Empire."

"I thought we got rid of them all on our first visit," said Yuffie. "Then again, I was brainwashed against my will that time."

"Apparently they must have fled before we destroyed Brain Bomber and his nuclear warhead. Anyway, one of the top-ranking soldiers was brought to a decommissioned base somewhere off the coast of Bangkok, Thailand, shortly after World War III and the complete destruction of the Death Falcon space station, presumably to avoid getting caught. Here's the big thing: a mysterious gem-like stone is said to have fell onto the abandoned island months after the Alien Wars. I think it might be one of the Mushroom Stones we're looking for."

"I have a hunch Purple Basilisk and his goons will be there to get it first, and that's where we're gonna go. Still, I hope Arctic Bomber doesn't get too carried away in this hunt."

"Not to mention yourself as well. I know you miss your old village, but how can we be certain the secret to ultimate power is really trustworthy?"

"I know, but it's just that I - excuse me, _we_ don't want it to fall into the wrong hands! One thing I learned in my ninja training: not only am I to use it for good, I also gotta put my friends first. On top of that, I've never really had a sibling before in my life, much less a little brother."

"You're still worried about 9-Volt, aren't you?"

Yuffie sighed momentarily. "Yeah...I really don't want him to get hurt as long as Purple Basilisk's around to get the five Mushroom Stones, especially if we happen to get blackmailed along the way into surrendering the stones to him for our friends' safety. I've always wanted a little brother like 9-Volt ever since we got acquainted. He even admitted I'm one of his favorite characters from _Kingdom Hearts_ - sorry if I sound like I'm breaking the fourth wall, but still - because I am one of the strongest ninjas in the world...well, not to brag or anything. Of course, I'm also happy to hear he looks up to Mona as if she were his big sister, and I've since devoted myself to being his guardian angel on her and his mom's behalf. He's a sweet and smart kid; silly sometimes but sweet. Maybe it's for the best that I be grateful you guys gave my life back by allowing me to live in Diamond City at the Diamond Dojo. I know I'm not exactly Contra material, per se, but I promise I'll continue to support you, Aaron, Ami, Bill, Lance, and even Arctic in any way I can."

"Thanks, Yuffie. We'll make sure Purple Basilisk and the Chaotic Bombers never get the ultimate power to rebuild their so-called Basilisk Dynasty."

[End BGM]  
[Alert BGM: Dark Terror (Advance Wars: Dual Strike)]

Just then, a voice came on the radio with a sinister laughter. _Well, well, it looks like we meet again - not that I'm surprised or anything. __I hope I'm not interrupting your exquisite moment..._

Blaze gasped in surprise. "Purple Basilisk!"

"Hey! Who let you in?!" shouted Yuffie.

_Oh, spare me the drama. You thought you banished me forever to the underworld, but you thought wrong! I had a feeling you'd be on the hunt for those Mushroom Stones, so I happened to take the one you were itchin' to get on that abandoned island base off the coast of Thailand. Still, I'm amazed your fellow Contras aren't with you at the moment like they usually are, but here's the deal: you want the stone I'm holding, come and get it if you dare! By the way, I'd make it quick if I were you because my loyal followers in the Basilisk Dynasty have hijacked a military train loaded with biochemical weapons somewhere in Moscow, Russia. Heh heh heh...you'd better hurry before we do something bad!_

Blaze and Yuffie attempted to call for backup on both the Contra Cruiser's radio and their smartphones only for Purple Basilisk to interrupt them again. _Ah, don't even think about alerting Aaron, Ami, Bill, and/or Lance! I knew you would have to rely on them at some point in your silly quest, so while you were busy looking around the Mayan pyramid in Mexico, I had Siren Bomber rig the trunk of your Contra Cruiser with a perfectly round dangerous bomb - THE Dangerous Bomb, that is. Y'know, the one with a white skull painted up front to signify its sheer blast range?_

_It's just like the one from_ _Bomberman_, thought Yuffie,_ and it can explode in an unusually large blast radius unlike the normal bowling ball-sized bombs. But how is Siren Bomber capable of using such a powerful weapon since a Smash Ball can only transform her into the monstrous Scylla?_

Purple Basilisk continued,_ And here's the icing on the cake: I also had Mosquito Bomber make some "adjustments" to your radio, that way not only will I be able to contact you, I'll also know if you're even thinking about contacting your four fellow Contras for help. The next thing she did was attach a nifty device of her own into your trunk and welded the Dangerous Bomb she cooked up for Siren to use, so the latter wouldn't roll around like a big ball to catch your attention. You might say Mosquito's the inventor of our group, but enough about that._

"Wait a minute," said Blaze Bomber, "how did you get past our Contra Cruiser's security, let alone its car alarm? Usually we'd be alerted if any attempt at tampering with it was done, and we always keep the doors locked as well."

_You didn't think we wouldn't do jack crap or even learn something valuable after you had us cooped up in the underworld for eternity, did you?_ Purple Basilisk paused momentarily to chuckle deviously. _Then again, it was a little difficult to do and we didn't want to take any chances; therefore I had Warlock Bomber disable the security with his Black Magic. Now, getting back to the subject at hand: if you so happen to reach out and touch someone, or in this case the meddlesome Contras, the device will pick up your frequency and activate a red laser beam on its own, which will then light the fuse on the Dangerous Bomb and KA-BLOOEY! Even your Protect, Shell, and Reflect spells won't save your sorry asses from being blown to smithereens when the powerful blast is this close to yourselves! Oh, and one more thing: Warlock Bomber cast a spell on the bomb so it can only be handled by us villains. Any goody-two-shoes clown who touches it just a teeny bit, on the other hand, will get his or her final fireworks show on Earth. Ha ha ha, I can already picture that bratty coward 9-Volt crying like a baby as one of his guardian angels - I suppose that's you, Yuffie - is blasted all the way to kingdom come! And now that you know the rules of my game, you have no other choice but to abide by them until the very end!_

The crazed lieutenant cut off further communication on the radio, prompting Blaze Bomber and Yuffie to put their search on the decommissioned island base on hold and stop his attempted assault on the capital of Russia, all the while following his twisted rules against their will and praying Arctic Bomber would succeed in doing her part to prevent the Mushroom Stones from falling into the wrong hands.

"If I ever come face-to-face with that obsessive lunatic," Yuffie muttered angrily, "I swear I'm really gonna kick him where the sun don't shine so hard, he'll be running back to the underworld crying to his dead master for threatening to blow us up and insulting 9-Volt!"

"We'll figure our way out of this mess before that Dangerous Bomb kills us both," assured Blaze Bomber. "Just try not to lose your cool. This is exactly how he wants us to react to his twisted game of Simon Says."

"I know I know, we always gotta stay positive, but just thinking of that deranged jerk and his bantering really burns me up! He can't get away with blowing us to kingdom come as long as we're around to set things right! In fact, I take back everything I said about not telling Aaron, Ami, Bill, and Lance about our quest..."

[End BGM]

TO BE CONTINUED...

* * *

Even though Arctic Bomber's gotten ahold of the Emerald Stone, she now has Yellow Cobra to settle the score with! If that wasn't enough, Blaze Bomber and Yuffie are stuck playing along so they don't get blown up by the Dangerous Bomb.


	5. Scavenging for stones in Europe

The scuffle for the five Mushroom Stones continues in France, while Blaze Bomber and Yuffie are currently forced to comply with Purple Basilisk's most demented scheme they've ever seen.

**DISCLAIMER: Bomberman is owned by Hudson Soft despite the company being absorbed unto Konami as of March 2012; WarioWare and Mario are properties of Nintendo. Contra belongs to Konami; Final Fantasy is a property of Square-Enix; Final Fight is a property of Capcom.**

* * *

Chapter 4: Scavenging for stones in Europe

Jetting across the Atlantic Ocean, let alone past the time zones between Easter Island and France, was the Diamond Taxi cab itself. Dribble and Spitz had mixed feelings with both confusion and relief in mind. They spent some time pondering over a question they had for Arctic Bomber: how on Earth would an alien terrorist like Yellow Cobra know her? She began to theorize anyway, "Well...it all started when Sergeants Mad Dog and Scorpion's four groups of 'Delta Force' soldiers were wiped out during the course of World War III, ending with the incident on Galuga Island. I just couldn't take it anymore, so...I snapped. I stole Bill and Lance's M16 machine guns and went on a blind rampage all over Red Falcon's goons. I shot up the whole upper level of the island's underground base like a freakin' maniac, killing a lot of Yellow Cobra's mooks, leaving him for dead in the end. What I didn't know was that he apparently survived. I dunno how he managed to live up to this day, but it's safe to assume he did."

"I had a feeling he might have survived for real," said Dribble. "I can tell just by looking at some metallic parts on his body. He's an alien cyborg, no doubt!"

Spitz added, "At least he's distracted...but who knows for how long? I can't bear to picture what he's gonna do to all of us!"

"The best thing we taxi drivers can do is not get involved, unless something really threatens us."

"I won't let that psycho near you or your taxi cab," assured Arctic Bomber. "That's a promise!"

[Overworld BGM: L'Esprit de Paris (John Leach)]

_Mission 3A: The country of love_  
_The next Mushroom Stone is said to be located somewhere inside a famous museum known as the Louvre. However, its schedule differs from that of all other museums in the United States, and it's pretty common they're often guarded from thieves._  
_April 10, 20XX_  
_6:30 AM_

Later, they arrived in Paris, France. Though they had only traveled for a couple of hours, they've actually jumped 10 hours ahead from their last destination. In other words, while it was 8:30 PM back in Easter Island, it's actually 6:30 AM here in Paris. However, the Louvre's schedule seemed different from all the other museums they might have visited back in the United States, let alone Diamond City. On Monday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, it opened from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM; whereas on Wednesday and Friday, it closed at 9:45 PM instead. On Tuesdays, it remained closed.

"You know, I gotta admit," stated Dribble, "my pal and I heard Wario mention a few times before that he's always wanted to take Mona to France with him for a vacation."

"Maybe he thinks it's a country of love, but I'm sure there's more to it than meets the eye," theorized Arctic Bomber. "C'mon, we've got the Sapphire Stone to find while we still can."

Spitz, rather than acknowledge the Bomber-girl's words, waved both his hands in disagreement. "Ohhh no, we're not going in that museum! It's closed on Tuesdays, and in case you haven't noticed, we've just arrived here on a Tuesday. You're not getting any help on this one; you're on your own."

[End BGM]

Just then, the group spotted King Billy and his Rich Bombers getting hauled off by the security guards for stealing the Sapphire Stone. "But I need that stone to unlock the key to ultimate riches!" He paused momentarily upon eyeing his former rival. "Oh, thank goodness you're just in time. You gotta get me outta here!"

"Hmm...how about I return the Sapphire Stone and we'll call it even? I'll convince the guards that neither of us is a thief."

The guards thought about what the Mistress of the Cold just said. Thus, they decided to give her a chance, though it was clear that they don't trust thieves who rob museums. All she'd need to do is get past the security without setting off the alarm. That way, when she does return it, Billy and his posse will go free...and she just might keep the stone since she intended on borrowing it for the quest she's doing. As soon as she was inside the Louvre, she was given some instructions on where to go in order to return the Sapphire Stone - though only on one condition: that she should not tell anyone about this. She admittedly obliged, and went along with it. But while she was making her way past the guards inside, she got a phone call from Dribble.

_Arctic, it's me, Dribble! Are you making any progress? I'd hurry if I were you, because something's coming towards our cabbie!_

"Just hold on, fellas; I have something to return first! I'll call you later!"

With that, she hung up and got to work. Making her way past the guards, she immediately came to a section where the Sapphire Stone used to be. According to the description, it arrived in France some time ago after the end of World War III, and was stored in the Louvre since. The moment she placed the stone, she called the guards to let them know of what she did to clear both her name and Billy's. Suddenly, she got an emergency call from Dribble and Spitz - their taxi cab was now taking damage. Frustrated, she swiped the stone and ran all the way out, alerting the rest of the guards to the situation at hand. Thinking quickly to avoid any criminal charges, she told them the stone had the power to save the world, intending to prove it by taking them outside with her back to the taxi cab.

[Boss BGM: VS Ghor (Metroid Prime 3: Corruption)]

With everyone gathered around, they saw Dribble and Spitz panicking about as Yellow Cobra was pummeling their taxi cab with his fists! "Heh heh...just in time. And look what I stole from those stupid Mad Gear bozos before I left them to get busted: the Amethyst Stone! Now, if you'll be so kind as to hand over the other two you have!"

"NEVER!" Arctic yelled. "I'll destroy you as I almost did before, only now, it's not for revenge!"

"If you insist...CATCH!" Without delay, the enemy cyborg grabbed the taxi cab and threw it over with sheer strength, nearly crushing the group.

"Aw, man!" whined Dribble. "My insurance doesn't cover this!"

"Soon, the power of the five Mushroom Stones will be mine, and you'll be gone forever!"

Armed to the teeth with cannons, missile launchers and machine gun turrets on his personal armorsuit, Yellow Cobra began the assault by firing on the security guards. Knowing they didn't sign up for the job to get killed, they alerted the police to their assistance. Until the authorities arrive, Arctic Bomber had no choice but to draw Yellow Cobra's fire herself, even if it meant the risk of her getting killed. Dribble and Spitz got Misu to safety as instructed by the security guards.

"The secret to ultimate power that lies within Sarasaland belongs to me," cackled Yellow Cobra, "AND ME ONLY!"

The rogue alien cyborg fired a volley of artillery shells from his cannons, inflicting heavy damage around the Louvre. Then he followed up with heat-seeking missiles from the launchers, which Arctic quickly countered with her ice shards. Sooner or later, the police force arrived to secure the area, thus enabling the Mistress of the Cold to pummel the armorsuit. Both opponents exchanged blows with each other, but fortunately, it didn't take much for Arctic Bomber to destroy the armorsuit's weaponry, causing Yellow Cobra to drop the Amethyst Stone.

[End BGM]

"Aaack! Dammit...you're just lucky the Mad Gear clowns managed to do some damage themselves before I came here. Round 1 goes to you, but I'll be back..."

As the rogue alien retreated upon finishing his last words, Arctic Bomber said, "Mission accomplished...but it looks like we'll be stuck here for a while until that taxi cab's fixed."

With three Mushroom Stones in possession, she spent some time explaining to the authorities about the reason why she wanted them. Thankfully, Dribble and Spitz were able to back up her story by telling what they knew about the history of the stones themselves. But little did they suspect that Purple Basilisk was at work...at least, on his own volition rather than associate himself with the one alien cyborg he'd likely care less about.

* * *

[Stage BGM: Livin' on the Deck (Metal Slug X)]

_Mission 3B: The military train in Moscow_  
_After being forced to go along with the "rules" of Purple Basilisk's twisted game, Blaze Bomber and Yuffie Kisaragi need to catch up with a military train said to be hijacked by his personal army of demon soldiers. Since there's no telling how close it'll be to a populated area, this train must be destroyed by any means necessary._  
_April 10, 20XX_  
_10:12 AM_

Elsewhere in Eastern Europe, Blaze Bomber and Yuffie spotted a hijacked military train across a railroad, but since the Contra Cruiser wasn't fully modified for combat rather than its usual space travel, they had to make a concealed landing whilst setting it to autopilot so the train's weapons wouldn't destroy it. Boxer Bomber and Trigger Bomber showed up on hoverbikes to attack, but somehow the heroes were able to subdue them and steal their bikes with little effort...

"Hey, those bikes are ours!" yelled Boxer Bomber. "We stole them fair and square!"

"Sorry to spoil your fun, but we don't have time to mess with you guys!" shouted Yuffie, speeding off with Blaze Bomber following behind, though the villains chose not to give chase and instead express their humility...until after the coast was clear.

"They've taken the bait just like you said, Warlock," called Trigger Bomber, "but are you sure they won't survive to the front of the train? That military train looks heavily armed from what you described."

_Of course it's armed enough to give them a battle of a lifetime, because a hunt for the Mushroom Stone with no challenge is a borefest. Who cares whether they survive or not? After all, like our creator told them, either they comply to his rules of the game or their precious Contra Cruiser becomes a smoldering pile of scrap!_

Zooming across a metallic bridge as fast as they could elsewhere, Blaze and Yuffie were immediately ambushed by a giant blue submarine-like mech that emerged from a river. Four cannons opened up on top to shoot a salvo of artillery shells, which the duo were able to avoid easily, and the mech followed up with a laser sweep across the bridge. Blaze and Yuffie were fortunate enough to do a wheelie on their hoverbikes to avoid getting hit, though afterwards the mech submerged into the river and smashed its way through the bridge back to the surface, just barely close to knocking the heroic duo off their bikes. Its frontal cannon opened up to fire a shell that Blaze voluntarily absorbed with his own body (albeit taking concussive damage) to defend Yuffie while she retaliated with her explosive shurikens to blow it off. The sub-like mech went underwater again, came out away from the bridge, and transformed itself into a helicopter-like machine. Its bulky exterior was finally seen as it flew out of the water and hovered above Blaze and Yuffie, opening up an array of weapons which consisted of laser cannons and dropping explosive barrels. In the meantime, a group of orcs holding onto missiles flew by in a kamikaze attempt to kill the intruders. Yuffie held them off with her Conformer while Blaze Bomber destroyed the weapon array on the mech's underside with his chargeable Super C-esque fireballs, eventually reaching the core and taking it out to finally send the mech careening back into the river where it detonated in a massive explosion, its smoldering remains sinking to the bottom for good.

After killing some more orcs, Blaze and Yuffie caught up with the hijacked military train and sped up after it, expecting to face its arsenal of weapons as they entered a long tunnel. Because the area is poorly lit, they turned on their hoverbikes' headlights so they don't end up crashing into the train by accident. The "caboose" of the train's exterior opened itself to reveal a big cannon inside, from which it shot three homing energy bursts at a time, though fortunately they were destructible thanks to Blaze Bomber's flamethrowers from his hands. Upon dodging or de-energizing the enemy shots, the cannon stopped firing to recharge itself, leaving it open to Blaze and Yuffie's attacks that when combined were powerful enough to blow it to pieces, destroying the car it was mounted on. Then they came to the next car and engaged a group of orcs riding hoverbikes, killing each one with little trouble. Afterwards, the next car they drove by sent out a trio of mechs linked to each other by electrical lasers, the center being the "master computer." The mech on the duo's right fired its machine gun bullets as the left side shot grenades at them.

Yuffie was quick to cast Protect and Shell on both herself and Blaze Bomber so as to reduce the damage they'd inevitably take by half, prior to jumping off her hoverbike to reach for the machine gun mech through a wall jump from the side of the train with impressive agility, slicing it in half with her Conformer before conveniently landing back on her bike. This gave Blaze Bomber a slight advantage as he went for the grenade launcher mech with his big exploding fireballs, destroying it in just seconds. With no mechs left at its disposal, the "master computer" opened its arms and shot a laser across the ground which left a trail of explosions in its wake. Sensing the attack could destroy their hoverbikes, Blaze and Yuffie maneuvered around to dodge the beams and flames prior to the center mech flying after them in an attempt to knock them off. After barely missing them, it charged up for one last attack before retreating, but Yuffie cast Reflect on herself and Blaze so that when it fired a laser beam, it bounced back and blew up the mech instead.

"Whew! That was too close for comfort!" commented Yuffie.

"We're not out of the hot water yet," warned Blaze Bomber, disconnecting more of the enemy train with his exploding fireballs. "We still have to stop it from wreaking havoc on a nearby populated area!"

As they exited the tunnel, the duo jumped onto the train at last whereas their hoverbikes exploded harmlessly upon impact. They didn't have too much trouble destroying the cannons and robot soldiers that got in their way, and upon reaching the front of the train, a giant steel blue robot came in from behind and blasted the cars linked behind the engine with its detachable fists prior to running up to the front of the train as though it were training for a marathon at the Olympics.

[End BGM]  
[Boss BGM: Boss Theme (Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest)]

"This must be the Super Power Robot Yokozuna Jr. I read about in the log entry I showed you earlier," stated Blaze Bomber. "Purple Basilisk must have stolen it to keep us astray!"

"Junior model, huh?" wondered Yuffie. "What happened to the senior one, assuming it existed?"

"I destroyed it back when I helped the US soldiers defend Washington DC during World War III, all the while Bill and Lance went to Brazil to take on Evil Pretty Bomber in Aaron and Ami's stead."

Regardless of whether this jogging robot was an it or a he, Yuffie kept it simple and assumed Yokozuna Jr. to be male. With his superior hydraulic limbs he was able to catch up with no problem at all, prior to hovering a few feet above ground with jets beneath his feet. Next up, he did an elbow slam on the side of the train, knocking Blaze and Yuffie over but miraculously not off the top, and followed up with his rocket fists that they were quick to jump over.

"Doesn't Yokozuna, or whatever his name is, have a weakness like the head or the chest?" asked Yuffie.

"I'm trying to think," replied Blaze Bomber, firing two of his exploding fireballs at the robot. "Maybe it's his shoulder pads!"

After dealing some damage to the left shoulder pad, Yokozuna Jr. flew over to the other side of the train, jogged up to it, and hovered above ground again for another go at slamming its side. This time, however, Blaze and Yuffie were ready for it. They jumped as the elbow slam made contact with the train and hurled their distant attacks at his right shoulder pad until it was blown off, then they repeated the process on his left until both shoulder pads were totaled. Even so, he was only getting started, living up to his name as he flew over to the front of the train face-to-face and pushed against it to make it stop, knocking the heroic duo over momentarily. With incredible strength he lifted the train so he could shoot three energy blasts from his head in a 90 degree angle, but Yuffie's fast reflexes enabled her to avoid every shot while she helped Blaze Bomber inflict some damage on Yokozuna Jr.'s head.

Sensing this attack pattern would not suffice, the giant robot slammed the train back onto the tracks before transforming into his "jet mode." He flew onto the back of the engine car as it started up again, crouching down in robot mode to hurl some circular saws at the heroic duo. Not wanting to end up getting chopped off, Blaze and Yuffie jumped over the razor blades and got onto the robot's head, pummeling his metallic "backpack" with their explosive attacks, followed by a few slices from the Conformer. But when Yokozuna Jr. finished throwing his circular saws, he grabbed the assailants and chucked them off his head before changing into his jet mode again to fly around and shove them completely off the train. Figuring how painful it must be to get knocked off like that, Blaze and Yuffie laid down flat on the train face-first until Yokozuna Jr. stopped his attack and landed back on the engine car in robot mode, leaving his backpack vulnerable to the explosive fireballs and shurikens. When they finally blew it off, the robot started to malfunction as he walked slowly towards them. Unfortunately for him, he did not see the train entering a tunnel when his upper body was utterly torn off by an overpass, reducing him to nothing but his legs. Blaze Bomber, however, wasted no time destroying the barely-functional legs with his flamethrowers to put an end to the intense battle for good.

[End BGM]

* * *

Finally after all the trouble they went through, Blaze and Yuffie opened up a hatch and entered the engine car, taking note of a Mushroom Stone that shone brightly before them. It was pure white, leading them to assume it to be the Diamond Stone as told in the legend of the five sacred treasures. But when they touched the stone, it flickered before changing into Purple Basilisk's face.

_If you're getting this holographic transmission, I must say I'm impressed you were able to survive to the front of the biochemical weapons train we put on autopilot before teleporting out and sending Yokozuna Jr. after you. But alas, your precious Mushroom Stone isn't here, which means...wait for it...you've been hoodwinked! Ha ha ha...well, at least you were smart enough to obey us and not squeal like pigs to the Four Contras. I mean, imagine how pissed they'd be when they hear the Contra Cruiser got blown up by Siren Bomber's Dangerous Bomb. Aside all that, you've still got plenty of time to chase me and recover the Diamond Stone till the cows come home. Oh, and speaking of time..._

As soon as the hologram finished playing the prerecorded message, a digital timer appeared onscreen and counted down from 5, thus forcing Blaze Bomber and Yuffie to bail out of the train as it had been rigged to detonate the moment they got inside. Fortunately for them, the Contra Cruiser was still on autopilot as it flew by for them to get on board and jet out of here just before the big explosion occurred. In spite of being led on a wild goose chase, the heroes were glad they stopped the enemy train from ravaging any populated areas nearby in Moscow, Russia.

TO BE CONTINUED...

* * *

Only two stones remain, and yet Arctic Bomber remains oblivious to the fact that Blaze Bomber and Yuffie are indirectly making her quest a little easier. As a side note, Super Power Robot Yokozuna is actually the official name for the giant jogging robo-boss in the _Contra_ series; he appeared in _Contra: Hard Corps_ whereas the improved "junior" model showed up in _Contra: Shattered Soldier_.


	6. Volcanoes gone wild

Only two Mushroom Stones remain dormant around the world, and unsurprisingly, the hunt's about to get hot...at least, literally speaking.

**DISCLAIMER: Bomberman is owned by Hudson Soft despite the company being absorbed unto Konami as of March 2012; WarioWare and Mario are properties of Nintendo. Contra belongs to Konami; Final Fantasy is a property of Square-Enix; Final Fight is a property of Capcom.**

* * *

Chapter 5: Volcanoes gone wild

[Overworld BGM: Main Theme of Final Fantasy IV (Final Fantasy IV)]

With the damage inflicted upon the taxi cab, Dribble and Spitz were forced to sit out the quest to acquire all five Mushroom Stones, and Arctic Bomber was unsure if she had enough money to go someplace else for the time being. One thing's for sure: she at least had a passport with her for international travel to any foreign country outside the United States. A few months since the end of World War III, Blaze Bomber and the Four Contras helped her apply for a passport - firstly by proving to the government that she actually reformed herself and was no longer a threat to mankind. Even so, she never bothered much with going to different countries alone. Knowing how easy it can be for a first-time traveler to get lost during a visit to any foreign country, Bill and Lance recommended her to check out some library books or go online to learn some basic things, such as customs and what areas to avoid if necessary.

"Well...now that we have three Mushroom Stones, where do you suppose the fourth one is? And does anybody know how far the airport is from here?"

"A little too far, if you ask me, Arctic," answered King Billy. "And we'd be too late, assuming we choose to travel that way."

"Can't you take us anywhere?"

"I can't. That self-absorbed jackass did a number on my private helicopter during the fight, so that's outta the question like with your friends' taxi cab."

Heavy Bomber sighed, albeit in agreement. "_Da_. A whole lot of money down the crapper."

Arctic Bomber threw her hands up in frustration. "So we're just stuck here? We can't just sit around and do nothing!"

"Spitz and I are working as quickly as we can," stated Dribble. "You'll just have to walk around for a while. Check out a few historic landmarks or something, like the Eiffel Tower, or maybe the Palace of Versailles."

"There's a soccer game you can go to, if you're interested," suggested Spitz. "One of the reports on our taxi cab's radio said that France is competing against Spain today."

King Billy declined on the offer. "I'm not much of a soccer goer. I prefer to watch football - American football - or basketball. Plus, I have a helicopter to fix. Oh, and feel free to borrow some of my money to convert into...into...I forget. Yo, Bling! What currency does France use again?"

"Plenty of these European countries use Euro," replied the leader of the Rich Bombers.

"Everybody knows that," added Fashion Bomber.

King Billy nodded. "Right, right. Anyways, Arctic, it's on me; just don't spend it all in once place."

Misu turned to Arctic Bomber to speak her word, "Do not fear! We will watch over the Mushroom Stones while you spend some time. But try to hurry back; my sources have told me that the Ruby Stone is located somewhere in Kenya."

"Hey, how do you know that?"

"I am a travelling fortune teller with an ability to sense where the stones are."

Arctic Bomber began walking to the Palace of Versailles, whilst wondering how a fortune teller from the Mushroom Kingdom like Misu would be able to know exactly where the Mushroom Stones are located. In fact, it was normally rare for a Toad to be named Misu.

"Now where have I heard the word 'misu' before? ...Nah, I shouldn't wonder too much, especially not after the fight I had against Yellow Cobra."

* * *

Meanwhile, at Easter Island, the four Mad Gear thugs were recovering from their humiliating defeat. Fortunately for them, their helicopter wasn't destroyed...although Rolento wished he could say the same for his pride. "Why that arrogant, extraterrestrial PUNK! He thinks he can outsmart the best of the Mad Gears, does he? If I ever see him again, I'll whack him where the sun don't shine with my baton so hard, he'll beg us to take back what's rightfully ours!"

"Ha ha! Whack him where the sun don't shine...Good one, Rolento!"

"This is no time for jokes, Sodom! We'll just have to track him back to his hideout, and I know just where it is. I've heard stories in which he was revived on a decommissioned island base, somewhere in Thailand. That's where we'll find him, and if we're lucky, we might be able to get another Mushroom Stone this time!"

* * *

Later, back in France, Arctic Bomber came back to Dribble and Spitz. Their taxi cab was just fully repaired, and ready to go. Thus, they got inside with Misu, wishing King Billy the best of luck with fixing his own private helicopter.

"Since you saved my skin," admitted Billy, "I won't harass you during your adventure...but I will say this: bring Yellow Cobra down for us!"

"Will do, Billy!" acknowledged Arctic. "See you around!"

[End BGM]

* * *

_Mission 4A: The highest mountain in Kenya_  
_Originally dormant over 3 million years ago, Mount Kenya is said to be the second-highest in Africa after Mount Kilimanjaro, though it's the highest in Kenya. Nowadays, it was designated as a National Park in which it receives 16,000 visitors per year...at least, until the Ruby Stone landed somewhere within this stratovolcano one day. Sometime after, strange activity had begun to stir the nearby villagers in fear._  
_April 10, 20XX_  
_9:00 PM_

Travelling one hour ahead in another time zone, the group flew all the way to a Kenyan village, just near Mount Kenya. It was now 9:00 PM, which was a perfect time to find the Ruby Stone. Arctic Bomber, utilizing her translator, found out from the villagers that they are debating on whether they should move to Nairobi. In translation from Swahili, they told her about the news reports of strange activity coming from Mount Kenya, complete with fire-based monsters threatening their culture and lives. In accordance to that, it wasn't exactly an active volcano since it last erupted between 2.6 and 3 million years ago. But now, it suddenly started showing signs of volcanism once again.

"Thanks," said Arctic Bomber, "That's all the information we need. We'll do what we can to save your village."

"Jihadharini na monsters moto kwamba kuja nje kumnyanyasa yetu. Kiongozi wao wito yenyewe Moto Mkuu, lakini hakuna aliyemwona yake na kuishi ... (Beware the flame monsters that come out to harass us. Their leader calls itself Hot Head, but nobody has ever seen it and survived...)"

"Sisi ni kuandaa na kuokoa kwa Nairobi katika kesi ya mlipuko, hivyo sisi ni kuhesabu juu yenu kutuokoa. (We're preparing to evacuate to Nairobi in case of an eruption, so we're counting on you to save us.)"

[Stage BGM: Lava Dome (Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest)]

_Hot Head..._ Arctic Bomber thought. _Now where have I heard that name before?_ But since the next Mushroom Stone was actually inside the volcano itself, Dribble and Spitz had second thoughts on whether they want to accompany her.

Spitz panicked in fear that exploring volcanoes is suicidal. "Yeah, I know we gotta recover those stones, but I beg you: reconsider! Active volcanoes are dangerous!"

"Duh! I can cool things down with my ice powers if things really heat up, remember?"

Dribble, too, reconsidered his friend's words. "I know, but the thing is: we didn't sign up for taxi duty to risk dying inside a volcano."

"Hello? Isn't sci-fi your forte?"

"Yes, yes...but..." The humanoid bulldog was at a loss of words.

Arctic sighed. "If you don't wanna come with me, that's fine. But at least do me a favor: if I don't make it back, I want you two to finish the rest of our quest in my stead. Keep the three Mushroom Stones, just in case."

Spitz gave in and said, "...Okay. Just don't die on us, alright?"

"I've heard that before, and I know what to expect inside a volcano like Mount Kenya. Besides, I risked my life helping the Contras inside the volcanic GolemBase over in Egypt during World War III; then again, it was merely the first day of my redemption for all the trouble I caused you guys."

The Mistress of the Cold temporarily left the party to go explore the volcano on her own. It was all up to her to ensure that the Ruby Stone doesn't fall into the wrong hands. As a matter of fact, she used the "rule of three" to assume it as the source of the flame monsters suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Normally, she didn't do this, but since she was on a quest to obtain all five Mushroom Stones, she knew the sudden appearance of monsters would occur for the third time in a row.

"Well, here goes nothing!"

Concentrating on her ice powers, she generated a wintry aura around her body. She had never done this before in all her years, but she figured it was time she did so. Now she had nothing to fear from exploring Mount Kenya's interior on her own, with the aura protecting her from the intense heat and fire-themed monsters alike. As expected, the monsters came out to attack her. They consisted of some of the monsters she saw in _Final Fantasy I_, such as Fire Elementals, Fire Gigas, Fire Hydras, Fire Lizards, Hellhounds, and even Red Dragons. Most of them could breathe fire in addition to physically biting, clawing, or punching people. Unfortunately for them, they all shared a common weakness to ice.

"As they say, chill out!"

She froze up the flame creatures with her blizzard, and pierced through their frozen bodies with her icicle spears. More Red Dragons approached her, but it wasn't too much of a problem for her to make it all the way to the center of Mount Kenya, where the Ruby Stone was located. Unsurprisingly, it was guarded by a self-proclaimed head-honcho. In her case, it was a giant fireball-like monster named Hot Head - coincidentally the same one that appeared as the dungeon boss of Turtle Rock in _The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening_. Emerging from a magma pit, the beast was a disembodied head cloaked in fire, which can fully recover all the damage he took simply by diving back into the magma.

[End BGM]  
[Fight BGM: Boss Fight (Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse)]

_CRACKLE-FWOOOSH! I don't know who you are, but you're finished! Even your wintry powers will not prolong the inevitable, for the power of this red stone is mine and mine alone! You see, the more I absorb its magic, the more lifelike I become._

"I think I can still take this guy, although I don't even have the Magic Rod like from _The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening_...Wait! Maybe I _can still _beat him without it!"

Despite Hot Head's threatening words, he didn't do much to kill her rather than just jump in and out of the magma pit. But even so, the force of the splashes caused some molten rock to splatter all over the ground. Arctic Bomber avoided getting hit even with her wintry aura protecting her from the intense heat. Then she got out some Ice Bombs to blast him with. She concentrated on timing her throws just right, until Hot Head's fiery body broke apart, revealing his true shape: a writhing, big-eyed head with a pair of fangs. While he could still dive back into the magma for protection, he couldn't recover the damage he had taken anymore. Arctic Bomber waited for him to come back out, and when he did, she dealt the finishing blow by piercing him with her icicle spear.

_C-C-CRACKLE! Why did you have to come here?! You don't even know the truth about the stone I possess! Tell me, what do you know about it and all the other stones related to the one I hold? Do you know what they are? Well...no concern of mine! You don't seem to know your reason for wanting this ultimate power you seek..._

[End BGM]

As Hot Head finished his dying words, his beastly body broke into small rocks and fell into the magma pit for good, coughing up the Ruby Stone in the process. When Arctic Bomber grabbed hold of it, all signs of volcanic activity and fire monsters ceased to exist. Thus, Mount Kenya was back to its inactive state once more.

[Victory BGM: Stage Clear (Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse)]

"Four down, one to go," Arctic said to herself, "but this is the last time I explore a volcano alone..."

[End BGM]

Back outside Mount Kenya, Dribble and Spitz were relieved to see Arctic Bomber in one piece. Misu, on the other hand, applauded her for having obtained another Mushroom Stone. All that was left was to find the Diamond Stone and recover it before warping to Sarasaland.

* * *

[Stage BGM: Gekokujoh Norakura (Contra: Hard Corps)]

APPROXIMATELY 8 HOURS EARLIER...

_Mission 4B: The continuing hunt for the Diamond Stone_  
_With Moscow safe from the initial threat in spite of being sidetracked, Blaze Bomber and Yuffie resume their mission to stop Purple Basilisk and get the Diamond Stone as well. But because they never received any clues of the stone's whereabouts, they can only rely on the Contra Cruiser's radio to pick up any broadcasts concerning strange activity._  
_Once they discover the location, it's up to them to stop the next attack, all the while still heeding Purple Basilisk's unfriendly warning about the Dangerous Bomb inside the vehicle's trunk._  
_April 10, 20XX_  
_10:34 AM_

While Arctic Bomber was spending some of her time in Paris during the afternoon, Blaze Bomber and Yuffie were fixated on tracking Purple Basilisk down and preventing him from stealing anymore of the Mushroom Stones for himself. No sooner than a couple hours of investigation did they receive word that the Basilisk Dynasty had taken over a geothermal power plant somewhere in southwest Iceland. Figuring this must be the real location of the stolen Diamond Stone, they headed straight for Rekjavik, the capital of Iceland nearest from the overtaken plant. Setting the Contra Cruiser to autopilot once more, Blaze and Yuffie got out on the ground and rushed their way toward the geothermal plant known as the Hellisheioi Power Station. According to the translated news report, this largest geothermal power station in the world offers educational tours and presentations about sustainable energy as part of its Geothermal Energy Exhibition. However, because it was overtaken, the authorities are attempting to drive the Basilisk Dynasty; thus it became imperative that Blaze and Yuffie provide backup by going in._  
_

But before they could get inside the plant, they were attacked by a hostile UFO-like mech that deployed robots from its open hatches, each with metallic wings mounted on the back of their arms. The mech had a searchlight on the bottom just underneath its red core, though it didn't need to use it in daylight. Instead, it dropped a barrage of napalm bombs on the ground before opening the hatches, forcing the heroic duo to dodge for their lives until the mech uncovered its core. Then they returned fire with Blaze's Super C-esque fireballs and Yuffie's explosive shurikens, destroying the UFO with little trouble before it could do more damage around the power station with its napalm bombs.

"Get everyone to safety," Blaze told the authorities, "we'll take it from here!"

"He's Blaze Bomber, one of the heroic Contras," explained Yuffie, "I'm with him."

Inside the geothermal power station, orcs and robot grunts were endangering the scientists in charge. But when they heard the explosion from the UFO mech, they turned their attention towards Blaze Bomber and Yuffie, opening fire just as they kicked the door open. However, Yuffie's Protect spell helped reduce the damage upon her and Blaze from gunshots. Few of the robots chucked potato masher-shaped grenades with reckless abandon, which the duo avoided easily prior to blasting them to pieces. A larger orc whistled for his surviving troops to back away, all the while calling forth a giant skeletal robot hanging from the ceiling to fight. Jumping down from its arms was Trigger Bomber, followed by Boxer Bomber.

[End BGM]  
[Boss BGM: Boss Battle 2 (Cadillacs & Dinosaurs (Arcade))]

"Right on schedule again," said Trigger Bomber, "but I prefer shooting up the place rather than keep track of time."

"Meet our newest reinforcement, Master Builder!" blurted Boxer Bomber. "Purple Basilisk and Brain Bomber were planning to use him against you foos during World War III, but your stubborn interference forced their hand that time. Today, we are in charge 'cause we stole him from the abandoned island base in Thailand, so get ready for some real pain!"

Immediately the two Chaotic Bombers got out their Smash Balls and busted them like glass, increasing the power of Trigger's machine gun arms tenfold and transforming Boxer into the two-horned Boxin' Bull. While they charged forth, Master Builder grabbed some metal parts from the nearby junk pile to build some unmanned tanks for combat. Blaze Bomber and Yuffie went in and took out the tanks, but Trigger and Boxer blocked them from their robotic henchman.

"Oh no, you don't!" taunted Trigger Bomber. "You're gonna have to go through the both of us first before you can have a shot at Master Builder. Boxer, they're all yours."

With a snort from his nose, Boxer Bomber trotted forward with his horns up front in an effort to stab Blaze and Yuffie to death. Fortunately, his attack pattern hasn't changed from the last time we fought him, for his stubborn attitude often made him predictable. He was so used to dealing knockout and killing blows alike in the quickest time possible without a second thought, he didn't bother getting strategic because to him, strategies don't mean diddly-squat when power counts.

In the meantime, Yuffie did a tri-attack of the three basic Black Magic spells, though she admittedly doesn't use any of them often since she's better with ninjitsu and White Magic. Her Fire, Thunder, and Blizzard spells did not kill Boxer Bomber instantly, though they successfully slowed him down long enough for Blaze Bomber to follow up by breaking a Smash Ball in his hands, whereupon he flew up to the ceiling and came crashing down on the Punching Ring King, yelling "BLAZE METEOR!" as he struck the stubborn bull-like Chaotic Bomber with a tremendous crash from his fists, killing him in the following explosion. Thankfully, since Blaze was imbued with holy power and Star energy, his Final Smash attack did not destroy the entire power station in the process.

Trigger Bomber yelped at the sight of his comrade's destruction and retreated on top of Master Builder's head to finish the fight, firing away whenever he got the chance. The stolen robot, on the other hand, continued building his automatons to send after Blaze and Yuffie, turning red with fury as more of his creations were easily destroyed. Sooner or later, he ran out of the metal pieces from his personal junk pile and grabbed the Trigger-Happy Maniac in a fit, sending him screaming as Master Builder threw him at the heroic duo. Yuffie saw her chance and sliced Trigger Bomber in half with her Conformer, killing him in the ensuing explosion despite getting herself covered in soot momentarily. As for Blaze Bomber, he ended the fight with his super-charged fireballs to the robot's face while dodging the thrown punches, blowing him to pieces.

[End BGM]  
[Victory BGM: Boss Clear (Bomberman 64)]

"That takes of everything, 'cause we kicked their sorry butts!" cheered Yuffie.

[End BGM]

* * *

"But, where's the Diamond Stone?" asked Blaze Bomber.

"Not here either," came Purple Basilisk's voice, "though I'll admit, you turned out to be quite formidable and you didn't even need to call upon the Four Contras to help you out. Oh wait, I forgot, it's the Dangerous Bomb I had Siren and Mosquito place inside your precious Contra Cruiser..."

"Okay, enough of your chaotic fun. Where's the Diamond Stone located this time, and why'd you drag us into the wild goose chase?"

"To be honest with you two," answered Warlock Bomber, "it's really in the abandoned island base off the coast of Bangkok, Thailand. Our assaults you've halted were merely part of a test to prove yourselves worthy, and you passed with flying colors. If we wanted you dead, we Chaotic Bombers would've went all out on you by now."

"As much as we wanted that Mushroom Stone and all the other four," added Mosquito Bomber, "we couldn't even get close to the island base. That crazy, uncooperative Yellow Cobra attacked us for no reason rather than his biased hate towards our master and creator Purple Basilisk! I dunno how he managed to harness the Diamond Stone's power, but he drove us out with no trouble at all!"

"In the end, we thought what better way to grab your attention than by rigging your flying car to get you to play our game of Simon Says," stated Siren Bomber, "though I believe it could be referred to as 'cat-and-mouse'. But...well, it's our master's plan, and rules are rules."

"How do we know you're not thinking of pulling a fast one on us when we least expect it?" demanded Yuffie.

"Tell you what: work with us to get rid of Yellow Cobra, and Mosquito and I will remove my Dangerous Bomb from your Contra Cruiser."

_I hate to agree with them, but we've got no choice,_ thought Blaze Bomber, reluctantly shaking hands with Purple Basilisk. Yuffie, on the other hand, grabbed ahold of the purple-skinned humanoid alien's arms and cuffed them from behind.

"Hey, what's the deal?!" whined Purple Basilisk. "We just shook on it, and now you detain me?!"

"We followed your conditions, now you follow _ours_," Yuffie said sternly, following Blaze Bomber back to the Contra Cruiser outside the Hellisheioi Power Station. Warlock, Siren, and Mosquito attempted to get in, only for the pure-hearted ninja to place her hands in front of them. "Nuh-uh! We may have to put up with you, Purple Basilisk, but not the likes of your sleazoid goons!"

"Ugh, you win a few, you lose a few..." The rogue lieutenant reluctantly got in the back seat, while the three remaining Chaotic Bombers teleported back to their underworld hideout.

TO BE CONTINUED...

* * *

With Yellow Cobra still a threat around the world, Blaze Bomber and Yuffie have made a temporary truce with Purple Basilisk and the Chaotic Bombers, though well aware they aren't to be trusted to be in charge of the operation at hand. Oh, and as a side note, while I was using Google Translate to convert certain dialogue into Swahili (apparently the other translators I looked up don't have support this language), I didn't know it came in two different forms until after I looked it up on Wikipedia one time. Therefore, since Google Translate doesn't use the Arabic form of Swahili, the translation seen in this chapter is in Roman form.


	7. The undisclosed, abandoned island base

The Diamond Stone, thought to have been stolen by Purple Basilisk earlier, was really hidden somewhere around Thailand all along. Yellow Cobra, however, doesn't plan on sharing it with his former superior...

**DISCLAIMER: Bomberman is owned by Hudson Soft despite the company being absorbed unto Konami as of March 2012; WarioWare and Mario are properties of Nintendo. Contra belongs to Konami; Final Fantasy is a property of Square-Enix; Final Fight is a property of Capcom.**

* * *

Chapter 6: The undisclosed, abandoned island base

[Briefing BGM: Mission Ahead (Star Wars Rogue Squadron)]

During their short flight to the abandoned island base off the coast of Thailand, Yuffie spent most of the time staring daggers at Purple Basilisk because of the attacks he staged in both Russia and Iceland just to "test" her and Blaze Bomber's "worthiness" of working with him. After all, it isn't uncommon to take the villain's words with a grain of salt, legit or not.

"Ugh, will you quit staring at me like that?!" complained Purple Basilisk. "I never said I was gonna backstab you in our mission to retake the island base from Yellow Cobra!"

"First off," said Yuffie, "you almost sparked retribution by hijacking a military train with an intent to attack a nearby populated area!"

"She's got a point," added Blaze Bomber. "You have no idea what Russia was like during the Cold War, way back when they used to be called the Soviet Union."

Purple Basilisk groaned again. "Says the one _whose soul was trapped_ in the netherworld alongside Lord Red Falcon's Hate Bombers long before the Alien Wars!"

"I never was one to begin with, because I was brainwashed against my will. Until the Four Contras broke the mind control Red Falcon put on me for centuries, I was forced to obey him without question even if it mean using my flame powers to kill people - and you know I hate doing that."

"Yeah, I know _that_, but there's no way you'd have any knowledge in this Cold War; none of us 'alien scumbags' do because of that accursed prison we were trapped in!"

"I know the world history because I spend some time watching the History Channel with Bill and Lance on TV whenever I'm not busy helping Penny with her inventions. The Great Depression, Al Capone, World Wars I and II, even Count Vlad Tepes Dracula and his infamous Crimson Stone."

"Our point is," summarized Yuffie, "we don't trust you or your Chaotic Bombers to lead us around, especially after you tampered with the Contra Cruiser's security so you'd sneak in a Dangerous Bomb to blow us sky-high! By the way, what are Warlock, Siren, and Mosquito doing now?"

Sensing the ninja girl and the benevolent Contra were on to him, Purple Basilisk tried coming up with another way of fast-talking himself out of trouble, but eventually gave in since he was currently detained. "They're on their way to meet us at the island base off the coast of Thailand like we are now. There, happy?!"

"Not till we get your evil bomb out of our car, _then_ I'll be my optimistic self once more."

"Heh...fair enough."

[End BGM]

* * *

[Stage BGM: Sector X (Star Fox 64)]

_Mission 4: The abandoned island base_  
_Formerly one of Red Falcon's bases, nowadays decommissioned...or so the media tells us when in reality, it's run by Yellow Cobra._  
_Blaze Bomber and Yuffie have reluctantly teamed up with Purple Basilisk to investigate, though only insofar as to try to get the Dangerous Bomb removed safely from the Contra Cruiser once and for all, let alone retrieve the Diamond Stone. Arctic Bomber, on the other hand, is expecting a rematch from Yellow Cobra at this point, which doesn't come as much a surprise._  
_April 11, 20XX_  
_5:23 AM_

The heated journey inside Mount Kenya had come and gone, but no competent adventurer would dare forget the old saying: out of the frying pan and into the fire. With just one Mushroom Stone left to find, Arctic Bomber left Kenya with Dribble, Spitz, and Misu for the artificial island base, located somewhere west to the coast of Bangkok, Thailand. Though it was meant to be run by Purple Basilisk, the only surviving veteran of the Alien Wars at the time, it belonged to Yellow Cobra (or, so he proclaimed).

"We're getting close to the base," called Dribble. "Keep your wits about you!"

"Say no more. Hey, wait a minute..." Arctic paused momentarily upon noticing signs of collateral damage.

"Wait, you don't suppose..." Even Spitz was at a loss of words.

"Oh no, no no...somebody must've beat us here! It's all gone!"

Misu became concerned about the damage at hand. "This is bad news. The Diamond Stone could be in the wrong hands by now!"

Arctic shook her head no. "Not if I can help it!"

Fearing another possible wreckage to the taxi cab, Dribble and Spitz landed on the artificial shore of the island base. Arctic Bomber stepped outside, and spotted a rogue helicopter flying above her. It had a frontal pulse cannon mounted beneath its cockpit, but something about its design seemed familiar. In fact, it appeared a little too familiar when it transformed into robot mode.

"Hold on a sec. Is that the robo-copter I encountered twice in _Contra: Shattered Soldier_? Apparently, Konami called this boss Mr. Heli Robo...or, so I've read online."

Mr. Heli Robo spoke in a robotic voice, "Destroy. Destroy."

"Either that thing somehow went berserk, or Yellow Cobra sent him after me!"

"I will terminate all enemies."

[Interrupt BGM]  
[Fight BGM: Evil Invitation (Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow)]

The rogue helicopter fired his pulse cannon at the surface, just barely missing the taxi cab. Then he followed up with a salvo of missiles, before opening his arms from his sides to shoot purple lightning. He closed in on Arctic Bomber, almost electrocuting her. She assaulted him in return by throwing her Bowling Bombs like baseballs, eventually breaking his arms.

"You are an enemy." With that said, the mech transformed into robot mode and came down to the ground. Dribble and Spitz drove their taxi cab out of the way just before it would be crushed. Then Mr. Heli Robo pointed his pulse cannon downwards, shooting a barrage of laser shots to blast Arctic away. She got hurt, but not bad.

"I wish I'd brought my Neo Contra Rifle for this battle! Then it would've been a little easier on my part..." Mr. Heli Robo interrupted her by blasting her some more with his pulse cannon. "OW! Crap, I can't get in touch with my fellow Contra pals like this! Okay...I didn't wanna have to rely on a certain transformation, but that robo-jerk has just forced my hand!"

She got out a Smash Ball and busted it like glass, transforming her into the insectoid version of herself: Arctic Mothula. "Hey, Copter-head! Wanna see what happens when you piss off the Mistress of the Cold?"

"I prefer to terminate you, now," the mech responded coldly.

"Alrighty, you asked for it!" In her moth-like form, Arctic flew head-on towards Mr. Heli Robo's face, damaging it with hard blocks of ice in the process until he was blind.

"Optic sensors damaged, approximately 80%. Where is the enemy?"

"I've gotta finish him before he destroys more than the base's exterior!" She fired explosive ice shards from her wings, eventually destroying the mech.

"I must be complete." Mr. Heli Robo detonated in a large explosion, while Arctic turned back to normal.

[End BGM]

Despite her efforts, she didn't get the Diamond Stone. She figured it had to be inside. But before she could even move another step, another giant robot broke out of the base's interior, completely damaging it beyond all repair. Inside was none other than Yellow Cobra!

[Boss BGM: VS Omega Pirate (Metroid Prime)]

"Don't bother stepping inside! I've decided to save you the trouble of finding me, now that I've fully upgraded my armorsuit with the Diamond Stone! In other words, I'm prepared! Wouldn't you agree, Rolento?" He revealed Rolento and the Mad Gear thugs, who were imprisoned in a metallic cage.

"You're insane! Only we have the right to wield all five of those stones!"

"Bothersome insects! Begone with you!" The rogue cyborg grabbed the cage and threw it far away, landing the imprisoned thugs back inside their damaged helicopter. "Now it's your turn, Arctic Bomber! Feel the might of my new-and-improved armorsuit! I call it: the Omega Cobra!"

"Oh, how _original_," she stated sarcastically.

"Originality doesn't matter. It's how my mech will obliterate you that counts! Observe!"

His giant mech, resembling three giant Lanmolas (from _The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past_) meshed together only with two claws each, attacked by detaching two cobra "bodies" from each other. While Yellow Cobra shot laser beams directly from the main body's eyes, the detached bodies tunneled in and out of the earth. Arctic Bomber brought one of them down with her icicle spears, only for it to swallow her whole in return. Thinking quickly, she dropped some Bowling Bombs within its interior, not only blowing it to pieces, but also ejecting herself to safety. She repeated the process with the other cobra "body" until Yellow Cobra was left with just the main body of his mech.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! You think you've won? You haven't even come close! You forget what the Diamond Stone can do!" Using the stone's power, Yellow Cobra reassembled the two detachable bodies that Arctic Bomber just destroyed, and re-meshed them together once more. "I have the ultimate power! Once I take the other four Mushroom Stones from your worthless corpse, I'll be invincible at last!"

"The power you have is only fueled by the Diamond Stone you've stolen! Without it, your Omega Cobra mech is nothing!"

"That's the main weakness. Exploit it...if you can!"

The giant mech tunneled in and out of the earth, firing three laser beams simultaneously. Destroying it would only have Yellow Cobra restore it with the stolen Diamond Stone, so Arctic thought up a new strategy: let the main body swallow her whole, and pray that she land directly inside the cockpit and blow it up. The mechanical beast lunged its main body downwards and engulfed her in its mouth just as she planned. Then she "drilled" her way into the cockpit with her icicle spears, swiped the Diamond Stone, and planted some more Bowling Bombs inside just before bailing out.

"Ughhh...why me?" groaned Yellow Cobra.

"That's why gobbling up intrepid soldiers like me is a bad idea," taunted Arctic Bomber. "Observe!"

"Hey! That's my kind of line, you copycat! I'll-" Before the alien cyborg could finish, Arctic's bombs exploded, causing a chain reaction of explosions that took out the mech and killed him inside.

[End BGM]

* * *

"Good riddance to bad rubbish..." muttered Arctic Bomber. "Let's get outta here and head for the Mushroom Kingdom."

"I couldn't agree with you more," came Blaze Bomber's voice. "You had us worried back there!"

"Hey, no need to fret. Just doin' my job as a Contra and recovering the Mushroom Stones, that's all. What, you thought I was gonna go power-crazy like Yellow Cobra did?"

Just then, Purple Basilisk's face appeared on the radio. _Even though you did walk off on me at the last minute, I must admit you've done admirably well on getting rid of that pestilence for me, but I'll be having my Mushroom Stones right about now._

"Hmm, let me think," wondered Yuffie. "How about no freakin' way? Go ahead, blow us all to kingdom come - you know you wanna!"

_How amusingly, yet stupidly foolish of you to say that! Well, have it your way, though it's a shame there won't be anything left of you for your funeral..._

Immediately after the communication went out, Blaze Bomber warned Arctic and everyone else to evacuate immediately, assuring he and Yuffie had a backup plan in mind. In just seconds, the Dangerous Bomb's fuse was lit by the laser device and it exploded...not in the Contra Cruiser, but rather inside Yellow Cobra's personal island base instead! A huge ball of fire erupted from a distance as the enemy base was incinerated to a smoldering pile of its former self.

Miraculously, though, Purple Basilisk and his Chaotic Bombers were still alive, likely that Warlock Bomber teleported them out of the base before the atomic bomb-esque explosion. _Grrrraaarrrrgh! Damn you, pesky Earthlings! That was completely unjust, if not downright unfair! We're supposed to be the sneaky ones around here, not you! How the hell did this happen?!_

"We knew you were gonna waste us anyway," explained Yuffie, "so I did a little 'investigation' of my own while we were searching for the Diamond Stone. Without being seen, I snuck up on one of Mosquito Bomber's inventions and swiped it to see if it'll get the Dangerous Bomb out of our Contra Cruiser. Apparently, it was some sort of brainwashing staff based on Siren Bomber's powers, except I hypnotized some of your orc minions into removing the bomb and putting it inside Yellow Cobra's base at its reactor core; you did say only villains could touch it after all. Oh, and I also replaced said bomb with this..."

The optimistic ninja girl showed off a bouncy ball that was about the size of a beach ball, though it was colored red and had a white skull up front just like the Dangerous Bomb itself. However, that was merely a paper-thin disguise to the fact that the ball was really white with Invincibility Star decorations all around. "Surprise! It's a bouncy ball we borrowed from Diamond City through a little phone call of my own. We knew you couldn't be trusted, so I contacted Mona and Penny to have it teleported here with a magic disguise from Ashley. Now, what was that about hoodwinked, again?" She playfully stuck out her tongue at the now-peeved humanoid alien.

_How DARE you trick the great king of the Basilisk Dynasty?! I knew you were concerned about removing our Dangerous Bomb without getting killed, but I didn't expect this! D'ooooh...you just wait till Mosquito, Siren, Warlock, and I get to wherever you are! I swear to Mihaele, we're gonna nuke the living crap outta you so hard, you'll be sorry you ever thought about pulling that childish prank on us! The Mushroom Stones are meant to be ours alone!_

As Purple Basilisk hung up, Arctic Bomber wondered what the deal was, especially the bouncy ball; Yuffie was more than happy to explain, "Oh, that ball belongs to Mona. She had it for quite a long time ever since she was a little girl, or so she and 9-Volt told me once. I'll admit, we never thought it'd come in handy someday!"

"That's good to know," said Arctic Bomber. "And boy oh boy, did Purple Basilisk really kick up a fuss when you foiled his assassination attempt! Great king of the Basilisk Dynasty my ass...Ha ha ha! Well, it's good that you and Blaze are safe and sound anyway."

"Now we can head back to Diamond City to warn Aaron, Ami, Bill, and Lance about the coming attack without worry of getting ourselves blown up anymore," added Blaze Bomber. "As Dribble might say, 10-4!"

_You took the words outta my mouth, Blaze,_ Dribble spoke happily over the communicator. _Alrighty, lead the way; we're right behind ya!_

The group did just that, eager enough to prepare themselves and their friends for the oncoming attack prior to taking the five Mushroom Stones to Sarasaland in the Mushroom Kingdom.

TO BE CONTINUED...

* * *

The five Mushroom Stones have been recovered at last, though only one obstacle remains in the way: getting Purple Basilisk and the remaining Chaotic Bombers out of the way once again, now that his assassination attempt on Blaze Bomber and Yuffie had been thwarted.


	8. Onward to Sarasaland!

After all the trouble the heroes went through, it was finally time to head for Sarasaland in the Mushroom Kingdom, but they must first deal with the now-desperate Purple Basilisk.

**DISCLAIMER: Bomberman is owned by Hudson Soft despite the company being absorbed unto Konami as of March 2012; WarioWare and Mario are properties of Nintendo. Contra and Castlevania belong to Konami; Final Fantasy is a property of Square-Enix.**

* * *

Chapter 7: Onward to Sarasaland!

[Interlude BGM: Bowser's Castle - Inside Bowser (Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story)]

Later in the underworld, the remaining members of the Basilisk Dynasty were left with only one option: to turn forth to hiring someone to aid them in their master's mission to recapture the five Mushroom Stones for himself. Henceforth, they arrived at a distant hideout belonging to a gang of well-trained demons, apparently being mercenaries for hire. As soon as the dynasty explained the story, the mercenary group's leader piped in, "So, let me get this straight: You want me and my boys to help you off a few bad apples who've been a thorn in your side lately, right?"_  
_

"Of course I do, Lesser Demon!" snapped Purple Basilisk. "And their friends too, who happen to live in Diamond City up on the surface!"

"Heh heh heh...Just so you know, our services don't come cheap. After all, we're from the same underworld like yourself and your Chaotic Bombers. And you also know what currency we use, right?"

The purple-skinned lieutenant sighed, knowing his plan isn't exactly going the way he intended to be. "...Fine, name your price."

"How about...say, 1 million Diamond Crystals? I'm sure your namesake dynasty has a lot of cash to fork over."

"WHAT?! Outrageous! Warlock Bomber, seize him with both your Silence and Stop spells! Siren Bomber, brainwash all of his demonic minions at once!"

But the Lesser Demon was only amused by his so-called contractor's hissy fit. "You sure drive a hard bargain by acting like a spoiled child, don't you?"

"D'aaaarrrgh, I'll show you 'spoiled child'...Now you listen here: do you know how utterly difficult it is to keep cheating any of Boxer Bomber's opponents out of their victory against him in a boxing ring whenever he's on the verge of defeat, all the while trying not to get caught?! If that wasn't enough, the promoters of the Underworld Boxing Association are probably already onto me by now!"

Upon learning the truth about what Purple Basilisk had been doing on his downtime from continuing his domination, the Lesser Demon couldn't help but laugh heartily. "That's what's been happening around the UBA lately? I mean, we've actually heard the story; it's just that I didn't expect you'd be the one pulling the strings on behalf of your thick-headed champ all along! I just so happen to be one of the top contenders, and yet now I learn you help him cheat his way to victory whenever he's close to being KO'ed."

"I swear, if you spill the beans about this to anyone...!"

"Tell you what, Mr. I'm-A-Big-Dictator: Cough up your 1 million Diamond Crystals, then we'll overlook what you just said as we serve you. Try and cheat us with glass pieces that look like Diamond Crystals, and I'll simply refuse your offer altogether and tell everyone in the UBA about your publicity stunt. Seriously, no wonder my boys think you don't stand a chance in hell without Red Falcon or whoever you call him."

The alien humanoid groaned with mixed feelings of annoyance and defeat. "This day is really going down the crapper...oh alright, already! We'll pay up for your services; just help me kill the six Contras and their friends in Diamond City!"

[End BGM]

* * *

_Mission 5A: Purple Basilisk's counterattack_  
_Boiling mad that he had been tricked, Purple Basilisk set his sights for Diamond City as a means to steal back the five Mushroom Stones. Having hired the Lesser Demon and his henchmen, the Basilisk Dynasty claims they have a chance against the six Contras, along with Yuffie, Wario, Mona, and everyone else they knew well._  
_April 10, 20XX_  
_8:00 PM_

"Warlock Bomber, you should never have let me talk the Lesser Demon into working for the Basilisk Dynasty!" snarled Purple Basilisk. "Then I wouldn't have spilled the beans about the stunt I've been pulling at the UBA whenever Boxer Bomber was on the verge of defeat in the ring! This was a stupid idea anyway!"

"Hey, don't look at me," retorted Warlock Bomber, "_you're_ the one who wanted extra help in getting your hands on the Mushroom Stones for that secret to ultimate power. According to the _History of Castlevania_ you got from a bookstore last year, the cobalt-skinned muscular Lesser Demon with wings on his back used to serve Dracula until after his master's permanent defeat at the hands of the Belmont clan - courtesy of Julius Belmont. Since then, the Lesser Demon and his surviving comrades became a mercenary squad all their own. They don't care about world domination like we do, but fortunately, it doesn't matter who or what they step on as long as they get paid, provided their contractor - that's you - complies with their own conditions without question or refusal. Finally, the boss prefers doing his work on the surface at night rather than broad daylight, though his obvious weakness to holy power leaves much to be desired."

"Apparently, though, this Lesser Demon - like he said - spends some of his time as a contender in the UBA," added Mosquito Bomber. "But whaddya think we oughta do, now that he knows what's been going on in the boxing ring whenever Boxer Bomber's involved?"

"What we do best," answered Siren Bomber, "but as for myself, I have some human males to hypnotize into serving me in our cause, though it would be nice to have little old short-stack and his magic hammer for myself. That ugly black-armored wife of his is _nothing_ compared to my sheer beauty."

Mosquito giggled in agreement. "Whatever turns you on, Siren. I've got some of my inventions we can use against the stupid Contras! Oh wow, look at the Lesser Demon's snake soldiers go! Now this I gotta check out..."

[Fight BGM: Never Let Up! (Mario & Luigi: Dream Team)]

People everywhere were running for their lives from the well-known locales in the Diamond City: Wario Park, Mona Pizza, Pearl Square, Diamond Arcade World, and even Diamond City Lanes. The snake men were enjoying the time of their work chasing away the helpless victims, one of the assailants gloating, "Hee hee hee hee! Ssssqueeeal, peeeegsss! Theeesss city isss oursss!"

_Blech, I'm glad Purple Basilisk doesn't talk like that, but who cares? It's showtime! _The Insectoid Queen paused momentarily as she spotted 9-Volt and Phoebe getting behind Cheerful White and Cute Pink outside Diamond Arcade World while helping Wario, Mona, 5-Volt, and Yuffie fend off the Lesser Demon's minions. _This time, I'm gonna get them all!_

But Mosquito Bomber was quickly cut off before she could get close, for Kat and Ana jumped her alongside Young Cricket and Ashley. "AAACK! You're really starting to be a pain in the neck, you know that?!"

"Nobody ruins our peaceful evening at Wario Park and gets away with it!" shouted Kat.

"And especially 9-Volt's recreational time with Phoebe and the others at Diamond Arcade World!" Ana jumped in.

"Your Bomber-pals Arctic and Blaze are too busy dealing with Warlock to save you now," stated Mosquito Bomber, "'cause it's payback time!"

Elsewhere, Wario's group fought off the snake men, orcs, succubi, and even the ogres before ending up face-to-face with Siren Bomber and her personal army of brainwashed men (officers, firefighters, and businessmen), whom she had sent in to attack the group while she'd personally deal with Mona and 9-Volt's mother. "Grrr, ever the coward you really are," Wario muttered angrily. "At least my girlfriend can kick ass on her own!"

"Too bad she's no tough-as-nails sergeant," retorted Siren Bomber, "but her demise at my hands will do nicely! Rough him up really good for me, my obedient men!"

Wario, on the other hand, swiped one of the hoses from the brainwashed firefighters and hooked it to a fire hydrant. "You know what they say: if you can't trust the cops to do the job right, call the fire department!" With that, he turned on the hose and sprayed all of the male victims, while 5-Volt summoned Ramuh to disrupt Siren's concentration with his Judgment Bolt, simultaneously freeing the men of the Singing Beauty's hypnotic song. Yuffie, on the other hand, cast Protect and Shell on 9-Volt, Phoebe, White, and Pink to reduce damage from physical and magic attacks alike by half.

"Time to whip up our Nintendo Power with help of a little magic we learned from Yuffie at the Diamond Dojo," 9-Volt said to Phoebe. "Wii Zapper Time!" Using his imagination, he thought up the namesake accessory which looked exactly like the one he bought last fall (which at the time came with _Link's Crossbow Training_) and it appeared in his hands. Thinking back to _Kid Icarus: Uprising_ on 3DS, he fired a barrage of energy arrows in the style of a machine gun, prior to letting go of the trigger so it'd automatically charge up for the famed "Bomb Arrow" as seen in _The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess_ and _Link's Crossbow Training_. Once the enchanted Wii Zapper had reached full power, 9-Volt aimed the charged shot carefully and fired away, obliterating more of the Lesser Demon's minions with splash damage.

Phoebe backed up her best friend by imagining something heavy yet able to hit hard like a boxing glove; simply put, she thought back to _Punch-Out!_ and _Wii Sports_ bowling. Thus, a bowling ball magically appeared on each her hands. Gripping on the finger holes for each 10-pound ball to use as boxing gloves, she punched away at the monsters whilst shouting, "Bowler's Fist! HAH!" Not only was she granted the opportunity to hit hard to make up for her hands being as soft as 9-Volt's, she also used the enchanted balls as shields to block the attacks, fortunate as ever that they were indestructible and won't vanish as long as she wasn't hit once. The same went for 9-Volt's Wii Zapper, which would also disappear if either he was hit or no longer felt the need to use it in battle.

Even White and Pink got in the action by holding their hands, whilst pulling out bombs with the other. In a back-to-back formation, they uttered simultaneously, "BOMB TWISTER!", prompting everyone else to get down as the heroic Bombermen spun around, throwing two bombs at a time at the demon soldiers including Siren Bomber but were careful enough not to accidentally blast the civilians that were no longer brainwashed in the process. Despite their efforts, they became dizzy for a short period of time but were quick to get their bearings straight by shaking their heads left and right.

The battle was raging on, but thanks to the heroic defenders of WarioWare Inc. and its associated locales in Diamond City, let alone innocent civilians - all courtesy of their training with our inspiration ever since that one night they fought back against the treacherous General Shepherd's personal army - nobody was seriously injured or killed, the collateral damage inflicted upon by the enemies minimized. However, Purple Basilisk, Warlock Bomber, and the Lesser Demon weren't about to call it quits yet...

"We WILL have those Mushroom Stones!" yelled Purple Basilisk. "I - excuse me, _we_ desire the secret to ultimate power!"

"You know what must be done, boys," the Lesser Demon told three of his personal bodyguards: a burly Flame Demon, a portly Killer Clown, and a hammer-toting cyclops. "These are the six Contras as our contractor described."

As the demon leader pointed at me, Ami, Bill, Lance, Arctic, and Blaze, the cyclops piped in, "Um, I don't know, boss. These guys seem tough..."

"Hmmm..." added the Flame Demon, his monstrous wings fluttering slowly in a dramatic effort, "it is true they are tough to defeat in battle. Nevertheless, they are just another bunch of worms I can burn!"

"I'll go it alone from here," Arctic called out to her fellow Contras. "This time, I've got my Neo Contra Rifle." She ran off to join Dribble, Spitz, and Misu again, though much to our worry.

"Blaze, go after her," I said, handing him my Contra Rifle. "You'll need it more than I do now. Don't worry, Ami and I will share her holy-powered bombs with each other."

"If what you told us is true," added Ami, "see to it that she doesn't succumb to the temptation of this ultimate power in Sarasaland. There's something I don't like about this Misu person. It's as if we've heard her name sometime before..."

"Same here," stated Blaze Bomber. "I'll figure it out along the way, you guys stop Purple Basilisk and his goons."

"Alright," acknowledged Bill, "but if anything happens to either of you or if we don't hear from you in an hour, we're going in next."

"Good hunting, buddy," said Lance, eventually shifting his focus towards helping us stall the bad guys.

[End BGM]

* * *

_Mission 5B: Sarasaland  
__Now that all five of the Mushroom Stones have been acquired, Arctic Bomber must journey to what Sarasaland had once called the Forbidden Pyramid. While she now has her Neo Contra Rifle in her possession, Blaze Bomber has accompanied her after having borrowed Aaron's Contra Rifle. They are indeed getting closer to the secret to ultimate power, or so Misu claimed all along.  
__April 10, 20XX  
__8:47 PM_

_I am a travelling fortune teller with an ability to sense where the stones are._

Misu's words rang in King Billy's mind for hours. How could she have known the locations of the Mushroom Stones if hardly anybody in the real world (save for a few countries) knew of them, he thought. On account of that, he wondered where he heard such a name like that before. As much as he wanted to expand his Money Dynasty to make Arctic Bomber jealous that his kingdom would be better than hers, he began to worry about her.

"Why the long face?" asked Fashion Bomber.

King Billy answered, "I dunno. It's just that...I have the strangest feeling I've heard a name like Misu before. It couldn't have been based on a Korean traditional drink I once heard about. And those glasses she was wearing...they look sorta familiar, too..."

"You sure?" questioned Bling Bomber.

"Yeah! I think we oughta get to Sarasaland at the outskirts of the Mushroom Kingdom, and fast!"

"But what about that secret to ultimate power?" wondered Heavy Bomber.

"Whatever it really is, it's bound to be dangerous! What if all of a sudden, Arctic became swayed into going rogue on all of us? I may be crazy enough to defeat her when the time is right, but I don't wanna _kill_ her! Don't you see, fellas? I've never met such an amazing rival as her until today, and I'll be damned if I ever killed her!"

* * *

[Stage BGM: The Foggy Cave in the Darkness (Contra ReBirth)]

Sometime after having returned to Diamond City to recuperate, not to mention deal with Purple Basilisk one more time, Arctic Bomber came prepared her Neo Contra Rifle. With its Heavy Machine Gun, Fire Whip, and Diver Mine weapons back at her disposal, she felt ready for real despite leaving her fellow Contras to finish the job on her own. Afterwards, Misu teleported the group directly to Sarasaland in the Mushroom World. From there, they made a trek for the pyramid that held the "keyhole" to ultimate power. Just then, Arctic got a phone call from none other than Billy himself. "Hello?"

_Ah, thank goodness you're still around. Arctic, you gotta stop this mad quest for ultimate power now!_

"Why? I got this far, didn't I? When I get all five Mushroom Stones inside, I'll be able to harness the power to create the winter kingdom, much less restore my castle, I've been dreaming about for years!"

_No! Don't go there! That power would turn you evil in the process, or so Blaze Bomber warned me - and yeah, he's with me, though apparently you both know each other. Anyway, there had to be reason this power had been sealed... _His voice became obscured by static. _...centuries..._

Arctic's phone went silent. "Billy! Do you hear me?! Argh, dammit! The reception was clear just now!"

Misu caught up with her, Dribble, and Spitz. "I can sense it. We are close, which is why the signal is poor. The pyramid deters those who step too close to the entrance, as well as prevent any communication from reaching out. We have no time to dawdle. Come! The entrance is just ahead."

Dribble gulped at the thought. "I don't like where this is going, but we have no choice..."

Spitz felt the same his buddy did. "But we're not getting paid for this! We're taxi drivers!"

"Yeah, but we never had the time to go on any sci-fi adventures ourselves before! Besides, since Arctic Bomber's around, nothing will go wrong...I hope."

Misu called out again, "Everybody gather around at the entrance, and show it the Mushroom Stones. Only then will we gain entry..."

The group did as they were instructed, thus granting them access into the pyramid...but the moment they stepped inside, an eerie voice boomed across the hall. _Those who dare tamper their way inside the Forbidden Pyramid, are doomed!_

Out of nowhere, hordes of mummies came out to attack Arctic's group, intent on expelling them from the Forbidden Pyramid by any means necessary. Indeed, there had to be reason why the "ultimate power" was sealed away, but they put their thoughts aside in favor of fighting for their lives once more. Accompanied by the mummies was a large, mummified cyclops, brandishing a spiked cudgel. Given the size of its weapon, a single hit would often bludgeon a foe to death through blunt-force trauma, its spikes even piercing the victim's helmet in the process. Fortunately, this cyclops was among the undead, rendering it susceptible to fire.

"Everybody knows what an undead monster's weakness is, but just in case you mummies don't know..."

Having switched to the Fire Whip, she let out a stream of flames at the mummies, burning them instantly. The cyclops was hurt, but mad enough to swing its cudgel with brute force in retaliation. Arctic Bomber ducked beneath the swing, and charged up the Fire Whip for its Energy Shot. Once it was fired through the cyclops' chest, it fell dead onto the floor. Next, out came a hollow suit of armor wielding a large battle ax. Arctic Bomber recognized it as the Iron Knuckle from _The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time_.

Arctic Bomber smirked. "This just keeps getting better by the hour, doesn't it?"

Dribble, however, panicked for his life. "But the Iron Knuckle's ax is dangerous!"

"Kill it! KILL IT!" screamed Spitz.

"I'm working on it, guys, just stay calm!"

She switched her Neo Contra Rifle to the Diver Mine, and shot out some explosive grenades in an arc fashion to damage the Iron Knuckle's head. Then she dodged another until the Iron Knuckle's ax became stuck in the ground. She took advantage of this by kicking it back, before grabbing the ax with all her might. Afterwards, she sliced the hollow suit of armor in two, killing it instantly as its pieces fell apart to the floor before the ax disintegrated with it. Finally, the group arrived at the door to the tomb, said to contain the ultimate power within.

"The stones! Put them on the door so it will open!" Just as Misu finished her beckoning, King Billy and the Rich Bombers arrived to jump Arctic's group and swipe the stones. Blaze Bomber joined in too, though only insofar as to reason with her.

Billy was the first to call out to the Mistress of the Cold. "Uh-uh! There's no way you're putting the stones in here!"

Arctic Bomber became flabbergasted at her rival's presence momentarily. "Billy?! What are you doing here? The secret to ultimate power lies within, and I gotta make sure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands!"

But the "king" of the Money Dynasty was more concerned about the fate of man and Bomber alike than the reward. "As much as I consider you my greatest rival, I am NOT letting this power turn you into an evil killing machine!"

"Arctic's not the criminal she used to be anymore," said Blaze Bomber, "though I only accompanied her so she wouldn't be tempted by that one secret itself! In fact, I recommend taking another look at Misu before we violate the tomb!"

"At least you're able to tell the difference. Both the ultimate power and that old fortune teller can't be trusted!"

Misu, apparently, had enough of this commotion. _I hate to do this, but these two are obviously misjudging my motives._

[End BGM]

The elderly Toad raised her staff to cast a spell on King Billy and the Rich Bombers, encasing them into four magical sarcophagi. Blaze Bomber stepped in with my Contra Rifle, but Misu was more ready than him as she also sealed him in another sarcophagus. Then she took the stones back, and placed them on the door without delay, granting access to the tomb inside. All of a sudden, she began to cackle maniacally. "I lied to you! Your friends have indeed tried to warn you over the phone, but I silenced them!"

Arctic Bomber gasped in fear with Dribble and Spitz hiding behind her. "Then my suspicions were true. In fact, I had a feeling I've heard a name like that before."

"You're close, but 'Misu' was only part of my real name..."

[Alert BGM: Room of Rites (The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages)]

In a flash, the elderly Toad magically shed her appearance by taking off her glasses. Slowly but surely, she revealed her true form: a humanoid demon with blonde hair, whose dress resembled that of Princess Peach's. Having taken off her disguise, she no longer sounded like an elderly woman.

Meanwhile, Heavy Bomber was strong enough to bust out of the sarcophagus and free the others, with King Billy shouting, "I knew it! You're not really Misu at all!"

Arctic Bomber added, "Terrormisu...I should've known!"

The fiendish woman walked towards Arctic and Billy, cackling as she was about to unveil her real intentions before them. She had longed to regain her power she once lost a while back. "What's the matter, Arctic Bomber? Did the name 'Misu' not give you a little clue as to who I really was?"

"I...I just forgot a little, that's all! But I heard you tricked Wario into reassembling the Wishstone, so you'd break free of its prison and try to devour his soul! I'm glad he defeated you at the end of his TV show-jumping adventure...and in a video game I once played, called _Wario: Master of Disguise_."

King Billy joined in, "So answer us this: how did you manage to get out to the real world all of a sudden?!"

"_Da!_ We have right to know why!" shouted Heavy Bomber.

"It was only by sheer luck," explained Terrormisu, "that I was able to escape the underworld and that stupid show about a thief named Silver Zephyr - who, by the way, was really Count Cannoli in that dumb magical disguise of his. But I couldn't get out into Wario's hometown without giving myself away, so I had to slip my way into the Mushroom Kingdom and use what little power I had left to assume the form of the elderly Toad you've seen. I eventually used the opportunity to easily access Toad Town's library with no fear of my true identity being discovered, and that's when I studied all about Sarasaland and the Forbidden Pyramid, which had the 'ultimate power' sealed within for centuries, even before the existence of Princess Peach's castle...and of course, Bowser's."

"Then that means you _did_ know all about the locations of the Mushroom Stones all along!" shouted Dribble.

_As if it weren't bad enough already that we had to tangle with Purple Basilisk and his goons over the Mushroom Stones..._ thought Blaze Bomber.

Terrormisu chuckled ominously. "It seems you don't know I can read your mind, Blaze Bomber, but I digress. Thanks to all of you, my time is now. Inside this tomb is an orb that keeps the ultimate power imprisoned within."

"I think I know why it was sealed a long time ago," interrupted King Billy. "It must have been so evil, that the people had to keep it imprisoned within the Forbidden Pyramid, and then scattered those five stones all over our world."

"And now you know the whole story. Too bad I'm not letting you live to spread the truth anyway! So, whose soul shall I devour first...? Yours, or the girl you favor as your so-called rival?" Without delay, Terrormisu grabbed the orb and absorbed its energy within, eventually recovering her full power. She enlarged in size until she was twice as big as the others were. She didn't care if she could barely get out of the tomb; she could simply destroy the Forbidden Pyramid with her newly-gained powers to escape. Three different-looking masks appeared before her, each representing a different form of power: sadness, happiness, and anger. The blue sad mask possessed the ability to flood an area in an effort to drown victims, while the gray happy mask enabled Terrormisu to attack with laser shots and the like. Last, but not least, was her red angry mask, which granted her the power of a fire-breathing demon. The flaming meteors were said to be unleashed from the head of the mask to cause destruction within range.

In fact, it was also said that these masks were the source of her powers that she once used to destroy an ancient Egyptian kingdom ruled by a pharaoh known as Poobah, having taken advantage of his immense wealth and desire to be the richest of all pharaohs. After she tricked him into making his people starve and stole everything of value to his kingdom, a powerful wizard by the name of Cannoli the First appeared and used his powers to seal Terrormisu within the Wishstone and scattered it into pieces to that she would never return.

And now, for the second time in her life, she was free to do as she pleased. Since Arctic Bomber, King Billy, and the others contributed the most to her ploy, she decided to do away with them before coming all the way back to Diamond City for Wario, whom she once knew as the Purple Wind before revealing her intention to devour his soul. Prior to doing so, however, she decided that one last event was in order to see if Arctic and Blaze could make it all the way back here alive; therefore she banished them to a lower section of the Forbidden Pyramid while making a holographic vision appear in the room for the frightened King Billy, Dribble, and Spitz to watch. And if that weren't enough, she even brainwashed Billy's three Rich Bombers to make sure nobody tried to stop her until after Arctic and Blaze have made it out alive!

"No!" cried King Billy. "Not my Rich Bombers! You let them go this instant!"

"Oh, I think not, Billy dear!" Terrormisu taunted. "Besides, starting a final confrontation with you when I've just revived myself isn't always a bright idea; I learned my lesson when Wario the meddlesome Purple Wind defeated me."

[End BGM]

TO BE CONTINUED...

* * *

Terrormisu has returned, but Arctic's not about to let her torment innocent lives in Diamond City, let alone Wario!


	9. The last act

It's a fight to the very end as our heroes do what it takes to prevent Purple Basilisk and his followers from regaining the opportunity to steal back the Mushroom Stones, all the while hoping Arctic Bomber and Blaze Bomber would come back alive from Sarasaland. Enjoy the finale of DCC #8!

**DISCLAIMER: Bomberman is owned by Hudson Soft despite the company being absorbed unto Konami as of March 2012; WarioWare and Mario are properties of Nintendo. Contra and Castlevania belong to Konami; Final Fantasy is a property of Square-Enix.**

* * *

Chapter 8: The last act

[Fight BGM: Red-Brief J's Showdown (Wario World)]

"We'll take Purple Basilisk and Warlock Bomber, you stop the Lesser Demon," instructed Bill.

"Are you sure you're up for it, Aaron?" wondered Lance. "Blaze Bomber has your Contra Rifle after all."

"Don't worry, buddy," I replied, "Ami and I have this covered."

"Just make sure Warlock isn't given any ample time to work his Black Magic to its true potential like last time," said Ami. "We already know how dangerous he can be by himself, although it seems he doesn't have a Smash Ball with him this time..."

Then Purple Basilisk added, "You can thank your Bomber-buddies Arctic and Blaze for stealing _our_ property right under our noses after that ninja bimbo tricked us! Get them, Lesser Demon!"

The musclebound demon huffed in response. "I've no desire to save your sorry carcass just because you're our contractor, but much like Lord Dracula, we are compelled to obey."

"So, the two of you think you can take us all at once, eh?" added the Flame Demon. "I know a Belmont when I see one, and believe me, _you_ are no Belmonts."

Ami and I took the stage against the four demonic creatures at once, firstly by throwing and kicking some of her lit bombs - Fire and Ice alike - to show what we're really capable of, even if I didn't have my Contra Rifle with me. To their surprise, the bombs inflicted a good amount of damage upon them, if not kill them easily like the Belmont clan's Vampire Killer whip could.

"OUCH!" cried the cyclops. "See, I told you they looked tough!"

"Graaagh, our contractor didn't say anything about these two mortals possessing holy power!" growled the Lesser Demon, throwing a few hard punches in our direction. Ami and I ducked and weaved, despite getting sucker-punched a few times from behind by the Flame Demon, who followed up by summoning pillars of flame from the ground to hurt us more, if not give us third-degree burns. Ami may have been fortunate to have activated the 5-hit barrier with her Bomberman Watch, I wasn't so lucky, but thankfully her pumped-up Ice Bombs negated the flames before either of us wound up reduced to charred bones. The cyclops followed up by charging forth, swinging his hammer wildly like a baseball bat in hopes of bludgeoning us to death. Fortunately, though, he was pretty slow, enabling us to dodge every swing and temporarily stun him with Ami's Thunder Bombs, followed by blinding Warlock Bomber with a Flash Bomb to give Bill and Lance ample time to get some free shots on him with their holy-powered M16 machine guns, each equipped with Crash Missiles.

The Lesser Demon grew impatient at our perseverance and said, "You're taking too long, boys! They're not even related to the Belmont clan to begin with!"

"Hey, I'm trying my best, boss!" complained the cyclops.

"And you know damn well it's not easy to play my cards right in every battle!" added the Killer Clown.

"I can do it," interrupted the Flame Demon.

"Alright, Flame Demon," replied the Lesser Demon. "Show 'em how it's done!"

"Yes, master." With that taken into account, the red-skinned beast fluttered his wings about, throwing explosive fireballs from his claws and summoning more fiery pillars from the surface of the earth. As Ami and I continued dodging every attacks to minimize the damage we'd take, we were suddenly shot from behind, allowing the Flame Demon to get a free hit on each of us with a flaming punch.

"Ooof!" I grunted. "What was that just now, and why am I feeling numb all of a sudden?"

"I don't know," said Ami, "but I can't move either..."

"It's my Paralyzer Rifle," answered Mosquito Bomber, who flew in our direction. "Disguised as a PSG1 - a German sniper rifle - it basically does what its name points out. I can set its length of how long the paralysis lasts from 10 minutes to one hour, but I think the first choice should be long enough for my mosquitoes to take a bite outta you! Didn't think I wouldn't be inspired by Lord Red Falcon's Hate Bombers, let alone Sniper Bomber, didja?" Just then, she was hit by a cold wind filled with blue diamonds, causing her to sneeze a few times and drop her modified PSG1 at the same time before freezing up, her frozen body falling to the ground like a rock. It turned out not a moment too soon that it was Shiva, the blue-skinned Ice Queen whose Diamond Dust could freeze enemies instantly, summoned by none other than 9-Volt's mom.

"You're gonna pay for that!" yelled Siren Bomber, running towards Mosquito's Paralyzer Rifle whilst dodging explosive shurikens thrown at her by Yuffie, Kat, and Ana. After picking up the illegally-modified PSG1, the Singing Beauty set the paralysis length to one hour prior to firing like crazy, not bothering to aim down its scope, much less take into account an actual sniper rifle's slow rate of fire. Luckily, because she missed almost every shot, nobody was ever paralyzed for a whole hour, thus giving Wario ample time to rush up to her and punch the enchanted rifle out of her hands. Angered at his and Mona's persistence, Siren frequently resorted to throwing her bombs around to slow them down, but even that wasn't enough to keep the redhead from grabbing her for a Spinning Piledriver (to Wario's delight), smashing Mosquito's frozen body to pieces simultaneously. Siren was lucky to not have been killed, for Mona's finishing blow was all that was needed to send her running all the way back to Purple Basilisk in defeat.

9-Volt, Phoebe, Cheerful White, and Cute Pink stepped in to deliver a combined final blow of their own towards Siren Bomber, but Mona shook her head no. "That won't be necessary, fellas. I think she's had enough."

"Aw, Mona..." whined Phoebe.

9-Volt added, "Yeah, she's just gonna pound Aaron and Ami while they're still paralyzed! Look!"

Wario, on the other hand, wasn't concerned one bit. "Ahh, who said anything about Siren Bimbo pummeling our buddies?"

"Normally I'd tell you and Phoebe to stay away from any of the bad guys bigger than yourselves even when you're accompanied by us grownups," 5-Volt told her son, "but since Aaron and Ami need our help, I'm making an exception."

"Just stick with us all the way like you usually do, 9-Volt," Yuffie reminded sweetly.

Elsewhere, Bill and Lance are still locked in combat with Purple Basilisk and Warlock Bomber, doing their very best in spite of getting hit a few times and losing their spare power-ups Penny Crygor sent Blaze Bomber to give to them, to keep Warlock fixated on the two so he wouldn't have time to support the Lesser Demon and his three personal bodyguards with Protect, Shell, Haste, and Reflect. Either way, it didn't stop the demons from scoring free hits on our stunned bodies to their delight. Siren Bomber came by with Mosquito Bomber's Paralyzer Rifle to stun Bill and Lance for one hour, but not before she was blasted from behind - which she hated because it'd ruin her white silky dress with blackish soot in the most humiliating way possible - by a few well-aimed cannonballs from Phoebe's enchanted Super Scope, which 9-Volt and the girl held together for better effort. Sometimes the balls resembled different-colored bowling balls, mainly depending on the Nintendo kids' imaginations. In the meantime, Wario and Mona rushed to attack the Lesser Demon while Yuffie tended to me and Ami with Curaga and Esuna. Had Warlock Bomber not been distracted, he'd have drained some of her mystic energy with Osmose by now.

"AAAAACK! You've ruined both my night AND my dress for the last time, you spoiled brats!" snapped Siren Bomber. "For that, I'll paralyze you with Mosquito Bomber's magic PSG1 and let the Lesser Demon's boys do all the pummeling!"

"Hate to be the bearer of bad news," I interrupted from behind, "but I'm afraid its 10 minutes of paralysis on both our bodies are up."

"WHAT?! Oh nooooo!"

"Oh yeeeees!" retorted Ami, knocking Siren out with a Sleep Bomb and destroying the Paralyzer Rifle with a Thunder Bomb. "Then again, Yuffie did help us in the nick of time, or we'd have bought the farm!"

[End BGM]

Nearly ten minutes of fighting later, we were on the winning edge; more importantly, we made sure there weren't any casualties or collateral damage on our part. The Lesser Demon and his three bodyguards were on the verge of defeat, along with Purple Basilisk, Warlock Bomber, and Siren Bomber. "This isn't working out the way we wanted," said the cyclops.

"They're too organized!" whined the Killer Clown.

"But because we still did our job, we get the 1 million diamonds," assured the Lesser Demon. "Our contract pointed out that we're to be paid in advance, and - you guessed it - it happened."

"Screw this! You failed at your job of killing the Contras and their friends!" snarled Purple Basilisk.

"Um, Purple Basilisk..." whispered Warlock Bomber. "Siren and I are near death again, you know..."

The Lesser Demon didn't take the insult well, and stared daggers at Purple Basilisk in retaliation. "Oh, so apparently we suck at our freelance work, huh? I guess it's time we told everyone in the UBA about your publicity stunt after all."

"No, not that!"

"Too bad, Basilisk, because as the old saying goes: payback's a bitch."

"Wait! We'll do anything for you and only you!"

The Lesser Demon eyed Purple Basilisk a bit closer for dramatic effort. "You're free to resurrect the rest of your Chaotic Bombers, but you're also to let me win 10 times in a row against your paper champion Boxer Bomber in the ring. Do the Killer Clown's laundry, give the Cyclops a bath, and absolutely no sneaking off to the surface without my say-so. This goes into effect for about 180 days, or six months if you prefer, and until you work off your debt, we're in charge of your Basilisk Dynasty."

"Okay, okay! You win!"

"What's going on?" asked Lance.

"Nothing personal," answered the Lesser Demon, "but we only got involved in the battle tonight because Purple Basilisk hired us to do so. We don't plan on hunting you down anytime soon not just because our lord Dracula's already gone forever...that is, unless you even think about coming into the underworld to get us..."

"Oh no, not at all," Bill said bluntly. And with that, the enemies retreated to the underworld and left us alone, at least for now. Even so, it was all up to Arctic Bomber and Blaze Bomber to prevent the secret to ultimate power from falling into the wrong hands, or destroy it if necessary. In the meantime, Yuffie decided to head back to Diamond Dojo with Kat and Ana to call it a night after all the traveling she did around the world with Blaze Bomber.

"You sure you don't wanna stay at my house for a little bit since you're one of my guardian angels, Yuffie?" asked 9-Volt.

"I'd love to, but I'm really tired at this point. All this traveling around the globe in one day can make you sleepy in a matter of hours. I'll see you tomorrow, though." The teen ninja knelt down to the boy's level and lifted his helmet momentarily to give him an affectionate kiss to his forehead. "Goodnight, 9-Volt."

"I'll take him home with Phoebe and his mom," said Mona, being 9-Volt's big sister figure and all that as usual. "Thanks again for helping us stop those alien scumbags from getting their hands on the so-called secret to ultimate power. I'm sure Arctic and Blaze have everything covered at this point."

"White and I wanna come with," Cute Pink piped up.

"That is, if you don't mind us spending the night at either your house or Phoebe's, next door," added Cheerful White.

* * *

[Comfort BGM: Helpers' Rest (Kirby Super Star Ultra)]

When we had finished settling on the agreement, the young Bombermen were allowed to sleep in a guest room at Phoebe's house with her benevolent father watching over them in spirit from Video Game Dream, while the auburn girl hung out next door for a couple hours before turning in for the night. 9-Volt, on the other hand, was already sleepy by the time they reached his house; thus Mona happily tucked him in bed with his helmet on the drawer as soon as he finished taking a bath, changing into his pajamas and brushing his teeth.

"Good night, little bro," she whispered affectionately, kneeling down next to the snoozing child to plant an affectionate kiss to his head. "Tomorrow after school, I'll take you and Phoebe to practice our bowling for old time's sake while your mom's at work. That other session we did at Wario Park's bowling alley yesterday was mostly a friendly match, and I did promise I'd show the two of you the best way to perform a hook ball technique. It's pretty tricky compared to simply rolling a bowling ball straight, and I admit it takes time getting used to, but I'm sure we'll get there someday. Other than that, well, sweet dreams."

"Alrighty. Good night, big sis..." 9-Volt said with a yawn as he began to snooze peacefully, prompting Mona to ruffle his hair playfully yet softly. With that done, she stood herself up and plugged in a nightlight to his room and walked out to close the door slowly, leaving it open just a little bit as she went to the guest room next door to get ready for bed.

Phoebe got out her 3DS and sat on a chair next to her best friend's bed to play _Kirby Super Star Ultra _along with _Nano Assault_, though not before turning down its volume since he's sleeping, all the while knowing she'd need to get to bed herself at her house next door. Nevertheless, she didn't mind watching over him while playing on her 3DS. A few minutes later, 5-Volt stepped inside her son's room in her nightgown for a little bit to pat his head gingerly, knowing Mona did the right thing on her behalf while she took a shower in the bathroom. Upon walking out to the hallway after reminding Phoebe it was almost past her bedtime, she quietly hoped to herself that Arctic Bomber and Blaze Bomber would return to their fellow Contras alive.

Elsewhere at our house, Bill, Lance, Ami, and I surmised by this time Arctic and Blaze have come home safely...

[End BGM]

* * *

[Stage BGM: Deathbed (Contra ReBirth)]

_Mission 6: Desperate move  
__The devious Terrormisu has revealed her true self before Arctic Bomber and co., intent on devouring their souls prior to setting her sights on the one "silent but deadly" antihero who defeated her in battle. Now that her power has been restored, Arctic and Blaze must press on and prevent her from escaping the Forbidden Pyramid.  
__April 10, 20XX  
__9:13 PM_

The next thing Arctic and Blaze saw when they were banished by Terrormisu's magic was a magma-filled chamber, littered with iron bars hanging from the rocky walls and big Podoboos jumping up and down over the lava pit. To make things tougher, some of the bars had electric orbs and Amps moving around, instantly bringing the two Bombers back some memories of _Contra ReBirth_. But they had no time to reminisce, for their unscheduled mission was to make it out alive and back to the tomb from which they had been banished.

"Good thing I kept the Spread Gun, Laser Beam, Homing Missiles, and even the Ice Breath for the Contra Rifle," said Blaze Bomber, equipping my holy-powered weapon with the first two power-ups he mentioned.

"I dunno if I already mentioned how much I hate travelling inside a volcano," commented Arctic Bomber, "but as a matter of fact, I really do. Aside from that, I'll go along if it's our only way outta this hellhole. Just gotta time our jumps right so we don't die in the lava..."

Right after the heroic Contras began their pursuit for the exit, they were immediately chased by a large blob-like creature with a big mouth - not to mention an appetite. Known all over the Mushroom World as a Magmaargh, though mainly a subspecies of the Blaargs, its liquidated body allowed it to pass through solid objects unharmed during its attempts to devour anything in front of itself. Believing Arctic and Blaze to be quite tasty, the Magmaargh gave chase, its body negating every shot from both their souped-up machine guns. Not even Arctic's chilly attacks could faze it, much less slow it down. Therefore, she and Blaze had no choice but to flee the creature they could only expect from a Mario game, taking out the spiked orbs floating in the air as they jumped from one iron bar to another. Only through their dodging skills, mostly Blaze Bomber's, were they able to safely navigate the magma chamber without touching any of the Amps or electric orbs, for even a single hit can prove disastrous, not to mention fatal due to the lava pit below.

Finally, they arrived in another chamber with an elevator-like platform supported by the ropes on both sides, where they were attacked by a large stone statue. As the platform went up, the statue climbed upwards after it, swinging its arms back and forth to smash some spiked blocks above itself to release wall-mounted turrets and spiked orbs upon Arctic and Blaze. The Brother in Flame, intent on keeping his Spread Gun power-up intact, switched to the Laser Beam on my Contra Rifle to inflict damage alongside the currently-equipped Fire Whip and its charged-up Energy Shots from Arctic's Neo Contra Rifle on the statue's head. In spite of its efforts to crush its foes flat aside from stripping Blaze of his Laser Beam with a lucky shot, it didn't take much to destroy it. In its desperation, the statue snapped the ropes off the platform before it exploded into gravel, causing Arctic and Blaze to plummet towards the bottomless pit. Had they not clung onto the rope, they would have died an unthinkable death.

"Phew, that was a close call!" commented Arctic Bomber.

"Yeah..." agreed Blaze Bomber, breathing a sigh of relief as he put the Homing Missiles power-up into my Contra Rifle's empty weapon slot. "But right now, we've got to climb all the way up to where the tomb was located. I think I see a Warp Pipe up there."

[End BGM]

* * *

[Boss BGM: VS Terrormisu (Wario: Master of Disguise)]

Elsewhere in the Forbidden Pyramid's tomb, Terrormisu laughed maniacally, boasting about how nice it was for her to be brought back into power, even going so far as to thank Arctic Bomber, King Billy, and even the Mad Gear baddies for going through all the trouble just to get the five Mushroom Stones. Before she put on one of her enchanted masks, she took one last glance at the Rich Bombers prior to noticing Arctic Bomber and Blaze Bomber coming out of a nearby Warp Pipe.

"You are NOT gonna believe what you put us through tonight..." Arctic muttered angrily.

"Ho ho ho ho ho! I bet you were scared as heck, but alas, this is the part where you die by my hands! Seven on one is _so_ unfair, but I wasn't planning on fighting all of you at once."

"I swear, if you so much as lay a finger on MY loyal servants..." growled King Billy.

"What rubbish! All I want is to awaken their inner greed. I can tell you keep it all bottled up, so people wouldn't think you're crazy."

"Well...maybe I do have my inner greed, but I don't abuse it tyrannically!"

Terrormisu laughed heartily. "Hah! That's just what Poobah the Pharaoh told me back when I indirectly wasted his precious kingdom!"

"Fashion, Heavy, Bling, don't listen to a word she says!" warned King Billy.

"Nuh-uh! Listen to a word I say, my new servants!"

"Oh no, you-" Before Arctic Bomber could finish her sentence and charge in, Terrormisu stunned her and Blaze Bomber with a lightning burst from her hands. "AACK!"

"Mustn't interrupt my greatest moment."

The she-demon wasted no time casting a magic spell on the three Rich Bombers, easily turning them evil due to the "inner greed" they apparently inherited from their master. King Billy became horrified at the sight, screaming with fear as he backed away towards Arctic Bomber, Blaze Bomber, Dribble, and Spitz. "What's the matter, coward? Are you afraid of destroying your own servants? Because that's the only way you'll ever stop my magic!"

"Arctic, DO SOMETHING!" panicked King Billy.

"Right! I've got just my-" She was interrupted again, this time with a swift punch from Heavy Bomber.

"Where are your helpers now, coward?" the Russian-themed android taunted.

"NO! Take me instead! I created you, not her!"

Fashion Bomber wiggled her finger tauntingly at her former master. "You'll get your chance. Seriously, man up."

"Okay...I tried to be nice, but you leave me no choice. Arctic, gimme your gun. I'll cover you and Blaze!"

The self-proclaimed king of the Money Dynasty borrowed Arctic's Neo Contra Rifle, intent on distracting the brainwashed Rich Bombers while she focused on combining her ice powers with Blaze's flames for their tag-team Particle Bomb attack, inflicting explosive damage on Terrormisu. "AAAAAHH! What sorcery is this, may I ask?!"

"A little magic of our own," answered Arctic, "which Blaze and I learned a couple months ago!"

"Ehh. It matters little, but the more the merrier! I'm gonna have so much fun devouring your souls first when I'm through! Rich Bombers, attack!"

"Yes, O Beauteous One!" saluted Bling Bomber.

"You're not gonna get away with this, Terrormisu!" shouted Blaze Bomber.

Heavy Bomber shook his head no. "_Nyet!_ You have to tangle with us first! Not big surprise!"

"Mind if I remodel your face?" Fashion Bomber asked mockingly.

The female Rich Bomber pulled out a "Fashion Bomb", which appeared bright-pink and fashionable but packed a powerful punch. The last time she used it was on Arctic Bomber during her very first visit to King Billy's castle, but it didn't work because it only affected males. This time, she was sure to succeed in getting her fair share of offense on someone. She threw it like a baseball, but Blaze knocked caught it with his head like a soccer ball and kicked it away. Both of Fashion's bombs hit Bling Bomber instead, temporarily blinding him.

"Ugh! Fashion, get it off me!"

"Bling, are you good for anything?!"

Heavy Bomber stepped up front. "Don't count me out yet!"

Dribble gasped, "Oh, crap! He's coming at us again!"

Spitz added, "Look out, fellas!"

The heavy weapons guy got out his trusty minigun, firing away as he pleased. King Billy nervously tried to return fire with the Neo Contra Rifle, but he didn't know how to switch weapons and simply tossed it back to Arctic Bomber. From there, she showed him how it was done by switching to the Fire Whip, letting out a barrage of charged-up Energy Shots. She pelted the minigun until it exploded, sending Heavy Bomber sprawling towards the ground, crashing into Fashion and Bling shortly after. Blaze Bomber, on the other hand, lost his Spread Gun during the firefight but was able to maintain the Homing Missiles.

"I see your so-called servants don't have what it takes to destroy the likes of you," commented Terrormisu. "Very well, then...I'll just have to deal with you myself."

The she-demon donned the blue "Sad Mask", magically changing the tomb into a flooding chamber with water gushing in from the mask's face. She followed up by shooting rings and watery torpedoes at the group. Since Arctic Bomber, Blaze Bomber, and King Billy weren't used to fighting underwater, they couldn't avoid taking damage. Fortunately, they knew how to swim, and could still fight. The Fire Whip wouldn't function underwater given its obvious resemblance to that of a typical flamethrower, and the Heavy Machine Gun's bullets aren't likely to go as fast as they normally could underwater. In short, Arctic switched to the Diver Mines, and fired away at the Sad Mask's face, followed by Billy pulling out a sledgehammer to take a whack at it. When the mask shattered, the room changed back to normal.

"You thought it was over already? I haven't even started!"

Arctic shot a glare at the she-demon in response. "I knew you'd say that!"

Terrormisu wore the gray "Happy Mask" next, altering the tomb into a room full of plastic smiley faces. Three of them appeared at a time to shoot projectiles, while Arctic's group smashed one mask at a time. Before they could take out the other two to inflict damage, the first one regenerated itself, restarting the process anew. The group had to rethink their strategy, figuring out not a moment too soon that they could each smash a happy mask apart. By doing this, all three of the faces that had shown up were destroyed. But immediately after, a bed of spikes protruded from the floor, just barely missing Arctic and the others. The Rich Bombers, however, weren't so lucky since they had been knocked silly.

"No, no, NO!" cried King Billy. "Don't go dying on me!"

"We'll worry about them later," said Arctic Bomber.

"She's got a point," added Blaze Bomber, equipping the Ice Breath power-up into my Contra Rifle alongside the Homing Missiles. "We need to save ourselves first!"

"No kidding!" panicked Dribble, getting himself and Spitz to a safe distance within the tomb.

[End BGM]  
[Final battle BGM: Illusionary Song (Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow)]

Nearly 10 minutes of destroying all 15 magic apparitions of Terrormisu's "Happy Mask" later, the room changed back to normal once again. The she-demon grew mad, pulling in the red "Angry Mask" to put on. Her voice became amplified with a monstrous one as her final mask took form. "Playtime's over! Grant me POWER!"

The entire tomb became a mere illusion of a fiery cavern, with the red mask hanging high above. It breathed fireballs into the room, forcing Arctic's group to stay to the sides to avoid getting hit. King Billy, however, dragged the injured Rich Bombers, not wanting them to die just because they were brainwashed.

"Billy, are you crazy?! Those flames will kill us!"

"I know, Arctic, but the Rich Bombers are like family to me..."

Just as Blaze Bomber put the flames out with the Ice Breath, something went haywire with Terrormisu's current form. "Huh? Something's wrong...it hasn't...happened...AAAIIIIIEEEE!"

The fiery illusion died down, immediately changing into a resemblance of a black hole. The room remained unaffected; however Terrormisu's form mutated beyond her control into a humanoid bat-like creature of mass proportions. Arctic Bomber recognized it as the second form Dracula took during the prologue's boss battle in _Castlevania: Symphony of the Night_. Even so, it's obvious she has to rely on more than just her basic gaming knowledge to defeat Terrormisu forever. The she-demon attacked by jumping high, breathing waves of large fireballs from her mouth and shooting a wide wave of electric energy. Upon stomping the ground, she let out a shockwave which sent Arctic Bomber's group tumbling down, stripping Blaze Bomber of his Ice Breath power-up on my Contra Rifle. In spite of their efforts to fight back, so far Terrormisu had proven to be more than a match for them. She wasted no time grabbing Arctic, Blaze, King Billy, Dribble, and Spitz with her claws, intent on devouring their bodies to whet her appetite.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you, Terrormisu..." Arctic aimed her Neo Contra Rifle at the she-demon's open mouth, followed by priming one of her Bowling Bombs for detonation. "...be careful what you eat!"

[End BGM]  
[Victory BGM: Dracula's Death (Super Castlevania IV)]

With a simultaneous blow from both the charged-up Energy Shot and the Bowling Bomb, it only took seconds before Terrormisu's monstrous form was blown to bits, killing her in the process. Her screeches could be heard fading into deep silence as she disintegrated for good, but with her last breath, she magically caused the entire pyramid to become unstable and collapse. Arctic Bomber, Blaze Bomber, King Billy, Dribble, and Spitz recovered from their wounds, picking up the downed Rich Bombers as they scrambled for their lives. They barely escaped the impending doom, just standing 10 feet away as the cursed pyramid collapsed into the sand.

"It's...it's finally over, isn't it...?" Blaze Bomber asked weakly.

"Yeah," answered Arctic Bomber, taking a deep breath. "Wario won't have to worry about Terrormisu exacting her revenge upon him anymore. She's gone for good..."

[End BGM]

* * *

[Ending BGM: Ending (Super Castlevania IV)]

The evil that had been sealed within one of Sarasaland's pyramids was at long last vanquished from the Mushroom World, along with the demonic Terrormisu herself. Though the efforts were successful, Arctic Bomber couldn't help but feel sorry for King Billy. The three Rich Bombers: Fashion, Heavy, and Bling, were more than just his three creations; he saw them as part of a family. "I don't know for sure if I can have my guys fixed. The damage is just too great for me to bear. I wonder if this is what happens when people like either of us, let themselves be swayed by their inner greed..."

"I don't think they're dead," said Blaze Bomber. "We spared their lives even when we were forced to kill them."

Arctic Bomber nodded in agreement. "Blaze's right. We can have them fixed up at Crygor Labs in Diamond City."

King Billy's mood, however, remained unchanged. "I dunno...the people, even the WarioWare fellas you socialize with now and then, might think I've come to rob them of their riches for my Money Dynasty. The whole country knows I'm one of the greediest men out there."

"Yeah, but there's a chance you can reform yourself. I know we've been rivals for over a year, but even I let myself be swayed by my inner greed when I came to your castle the first time. I've learned my lesson since I helped Blaze Bomber and the Four Contras defeat Red Falcon's evil forces during World War III. If I could change, so can you. All you need is my guidance...no, not just my guidance. My friends can also help you."

King Billy began to feel a little better. "I...I see."

"And on top of that, I also did what no other righteous-minded person in America could do: I braved the classified Area 51 alongside the Contras, stopped the traitorous General Shepherd, and even destroyed a whole bunch of Bacterion warships that were stolen a while ago, and housed within."

King Billy gasped in awe. "No freakin' way! THE Bacterion warships, as in a crap-load of mechanical menaces from the _Gradius_ video games?!"

"Indeed," said Dribble. "It's kinda complicated, but we'll explain on the way back."

Spitz nodded. "Well, we gotta get back to our place."

"It was nice that we got to know each other, King Billy," said Blaze Bomber. "If you need us again, you know where to go."

Arctic Bomber cracked a wan smile. "Yep...and thanks for helping us anyway."

The group went to the nearest Warp Pipe, leading themselves back into Diamond City in the real world. Then they headed for Crygor Labs, intent on asking Dr. Crygor and his granddaughter, Penny, to fix the Rich Bombers. As the scientific family got to work with Blaze Bomber's assistance, Arctic and King Billy shared their remorseful thoughts about what they did back when they were greedy rivals. Although he had the right to protect his property, he admitted to have been in the wrong as well. He couldn't help himself when it came to swiping the riches so he could expand the Money Dynasty. Arctic, too, had the same guilt, but she felt proud for having done more good than bad even when she couldn't hold back her inner greed occasionally - even today. Not only did she get all five Mushroom Stones, she also managed to prevent an ultimate evil from escaping into reality through Terrormisu's body. And by now, as Bill, Lance, Ami, and I predicted, she and Blaze had indeed returned alive about an hour or so after we defeated the Basilisk Dynasty and the Lesser Demon's personal army of demons.

Now was the time Arctic and Billy put aside their rivalry once and for all, for there is soon to be an interdimensional war. Nobody knew for sure how long it would be before the Bacterions finally arrive to terrorize the planet in return for their warships that were secretly stolen to begin with. It could be weeks, months, or even a year before then, but Arctic didn't want to take any chances with guessing when it would happen. She not only wanted to work with us Contras and our WarioWare friends again; she also requested King Billy and the Rich Bombers to assist in any way they can, for if Earth were to be destroyed, then nothing of value would be left for anybody to treasure...not even their own lives.

Thus, King Billy decided he's learned his lesson the same way his former rival did: greed begets sorrow. He'd also shape up, wake up, and contribute to the future of man and Bomber alike, even if it meant risking his life to help vanquish the Bacterions from the face of the galaxy.

THE END

(Ending Credits)  
Arctic Bomber - GREY DELISLE  
Blaze Bomber - SCOTT MENVILLE  
Yuffie Kisaragi - CHRISTY CARLSON ROMANO  
Dribble - KEVIN MICHAEL RICHARDSON  
Spitz - MIKE MCAULIFFE  
Purple Basilisk - STEVEN JAY BLUM  
Warlock Bomber - JOHN DIMAGGIO  
Boxer Bomber - BOB CARTER  
Siren Bomber - RACHEL MACFARLANE  
Trigger Bomber - DONALD BROWN  
Mosquito Bomber - LAUREN TOM  
King Billy Bling - DONNY LUCAS  
"Misu" (Terrormisu's disguise) - SUSAN SILO  
Bling Bomber - STEVEN JAY BLUM  
Heavy Bomber - GARY SCHWARTZ  
Fashion Bomber - WENDEE LEE  
Yellow Cobra - MICHAEL DOBSON  
Rolento - ALAN SMITHE  
Poison - KAREN STRASSMAN  
Hugo Andore - PATRICK SEITZ  
Wario - CHARLES MARTINET  
Mona - LESLIE SWAN  
9-Volt - TARA STRONG  
Phoebe - HYNDEN WALCH  
Cheerful White - TARA STRONG  
Cute Pink - JANICE KAWAYE  
5-Volt - GREY DELISLE  
Kat - GREY DELISLE  
Ana - TARA STRONG  
Aaron (me) - MYSELF  
Ami - JANICE KAWAYE  
Bill Rizer - BOB BUCCHOLZ  
Lance Bean - SYLVESTER STALLONE  
Lesser Demon - DAVID KAYE  
Flame Demon - CLANCY BROWN  
Killer Clown - TOM KENNY  
Cyclops - JIM CUMMINGS  
Terrormisu - JENNIFER HALE

[End BGM]  
[End Credits]

* * *

That about wraps up DCC #8: Legend of the Mushroom Stones. I hope you enjoyed it overall like with the other entries in my revamped Diamond City Chronicles series. I know the third part of the final battle against Terrormisu was a tad short, but at least I made it worthwhile in my opinion.


End file.
